The Trials of Kimiko
by Dragon Man 180
Summary: Kimiko finally thinks she is getting a break as she starts her summer vacation in the Feudal Era with some school friends, Rin, and Shippo. Then a strange meteor transports them into Shippo's favorite manga. Discontinued, sorry.
1. The Adventure Begins

**Roar of the Dragon: Well, here is the start of the sequel to A Dream Is a Wish. Hope all my previous readers will enjoy this story as much as my first one.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, Tenchi Muyo!, Oh My Goddess!, Ranma ½, or Naruto! I do own all the original characters from my previous story and the new ones mentioned in the previous character bios.**

_AN: the following symbols indicate the enclosed type of action/speech_

_::Thoughts::_

_"Speech"_

_)Inu-youkai language(_

_SOUND EFFECT_

_Line across page time passes_

_ Change of view _

_Talking mind to mind_

"Are you kids sure you have everything you'll need?" asked Kagome. Kimiko sighed and pulled out a checklist from her pocket. "Yes mom, I've gone through all the packs three times and so have the others. We're going to spend a month in the feudal era camping and relaxing to kick off our summer vacation. Rin and Shippo will be with us to keep us safe and we are all strong enough to handle ourselves in a fight against common youkai!" said Kimiko as she rolled her eyes at her mother's protective instincts. Kagome started to open her mouth again but was interrupted by Inuyasha placing his hand over the opening. "Your mother is just worried about you, my time is a lot more dangerous than this one. Just keep your wits about you and trust your instincts and you'll be fine. If you guys need help you can always go to Mirouku and Sango or your Uncle Sesshomaru and Aunt Lina," said Inuyasha. Kimiko grinned and slipped on her backpack before grabbing her bags and running outside to join her friends by the well house. Miyuki, Akira, and Ryeka all had packs on their backs and one or two duffel bags in their hands. Ren-oh-ki was perched on Ryeka's shoulder and munching on a large carrot while Ryeka talked with Miyuki. The Satome girl was in her cursed form and idly scratching Flamie's head just behind his ears. All three of the waiting teens looked up when they heard Kimiko exit the house and Flamie ran up to his mistress and rubbed against her leg. Kimiko smiled and patted her pet on his head. "You guys ready to go?" asked Kimiko with a grin. After receiving nods from each of her friends, Kimiko lead the way to the well house and jumped into the well. A flash of purple light later and Kimiko was at the bottom of the Bone Eater's well in Feudal Japan.

Kimiko jumped out of the well quickly to find Shippo, Rin, and Hiryuu waiting for her with their own bags and packs. Ryeka levitated herself, Ren-oh-ki, and Flamie out of the well, the two pets immediately running over to Kudora and nuzzling each other to say 'hello' Akira was the next person to make it out with a powerful jump, followed by his sister, who sniffed deeply as she landed. "So this is what Japan would smell like without all the pollution and smog," she said with a smile. Kimiko smiled and said, "Yeah, the first time I left here to enter modern Japan I was disgusted by the smells and started crying. Oka-san had to pinch my nose to stop me from crying." Shippo grinned and said, "I still remember that day, you were only three days old and already as big as I was back then. You started crying when Jiji-san tried to make funny faces to make you laugh so dad tried to kill him. Then you said you first words, 'Ramen mine!' after you broke into the cupboard where obaasan keeps the ramen packets and Oka-san told you to let go of the ramen!" Kimiko glared at her older brother while Rin, Akira, and Ryeka started chuckling at the mental image Shippo's words painted for them. Miyuki joined Kimiko in glaring at her older sibling, showing a solid younger sibling alliance that would spell trouble for Shippo and Akira later.

"I still don't see why we had to bring the toad," said Akira as he glanced back at Jaken who was being dragged along by Aun-Un. The two headed dragon had been drafted by Rin to carry packs and bags with Jaken to supervise, or in this case provide entertainment for the whole group. It didn't help that Shippo and Kimiko had gotten tired of his constant complaints about babysitting them and duct tapped his mouth shut after tying the reigns of the two headed dragon around Jaken's feet and taking away his staff. "Because he is going to take Aun-Un back to Uncle Fluffy's palace after we unload everything," said Kimiko. Miyuki glanced down from the tree branches that she was jumping along above everyone else and said, "How much farther do you want to go today? I can smell a hot spring nearby and a large river. It is a perfect spot to make camp to, nice flat clearing with plenty of tall trees." Kimiko glanced at the other members of the group and received a nod from each of them before calling out, "Okay Miyuki, we'll set up there!" Flamie, Kudora, and Ren-oh-ki ran ahead of the group to prowl around the clearing and make sure there weren't any rodents around to bother the kids. Akira and Hiryuu set up the tents while Kimiko and Miyuki gathered fire wood. Shippo lit a fire with fox fire and started cooking some fish Rin and Ryeka caught. Everyone enjoyed the fish dinner and settled down for the evening. There was one tent for the girls and one for the two boys, while Shippo and Rin were old enough to share a tent (AN: No, they didn't do any naughty stuff you Hentai!) while the pets curled up beside their master. The only sounds to disturb the night where Ryeka giggling in her sleep as Kimiko and Miyuki's tails tickled her. Jaken spent the night tied to a tree upside down, guarded by Aun-Un to prevent his escape.

The next two days passed much the same, until the group reached the valley Kimiko had picked for their permanent camp site. The campsite was located a short distance from a beautiful waterfall that flowed into a deep pool and from there into a stream. A convenient hot spring gave the girls a place to bathe while the boys fished for dinner in the stream. The group was just getting ready to sit down to dinner when Ryeka spotted something in the sky. "Look, a shooting star! It looks like it is going to pass right over our heads!" she said.

Everyone looked up to see a large shooting star as Ryeka had said. The star seemed to be growing larger and larger. "Is it just me or is that thing glowing green?" asked Shippo. "It isn't just you, I see a definite green glow, but it is more like the aura of the Shikon Jewel than anything else." Shippo followed the path the meteor would take and his eyes widened as he saw it growing bigger and bigger. "Umm, I think that meteor is actually going to hit somewhere nearby! Don't you guys hear that faint whistling sound that is growing louder?" he asked. Miyuki, Rin, and Kimiko all nodded, quickly trying to tell where the meteor was going to hit. The blazing rock shot over the group's campsite and out of sight but not hearing. Everyone threw themselves down on the ground as Akira yelled, "Brace for impact!" Kimiko had barely enough time to put up a barrier around the campsite with her miko powers before the night was illuminated by a gigantic green flash as the meteor hit the ground in the next valley. Rin, Miyuki, Kimiko, and Shippo all winced as the sound of the impact reached them and hurt their sensitive ears. Akira, Ryeka, and Hiryuu weren't affected as much by the noise, though Ren-oh-ki used her paws to muffle her ears. The earth shook slightly from the force of the impact, causing Flamie to bury his head under Kimiko's tail and whimper. After the shaking stopped, the kids went to investigate, followed by Jaken at a distance in case of danger.

A quick thirty minute hike into the next valley and the group was able to see the green glow that had first caught Ryeka's attention. A glowing green crystal rock about the size of Shippo when he first met Kagome and Inuyasha rested in the middle of a deep crater. Ryeka formed and fired and energy blast at the meteor, blinking in surprise as the blast was absorbed and the glow flared up for a second before returning to a steady brightness. Kimiko, Shippo, Rin, and Miyuki all sniffed the air for any dangerous gases or elements in the meteor. Since their noses didn't pick anything up, the teens did the next logical thing in a situation where they didn't know if something was safe to approach, throw Jaken onto it. When the little toad didn't burst into flames or fall over dead, the teens decided it was safe to approach the glowing meteor. Jaken scrambled away before they could think of using him for any more safety tests but stopped at the edge of the large clearing the meteor had created from the heat of impact. The teens stood around the rock in a circle, Flamie, Ren-oh-ki, and Kudora all perching on their respective owner's shoulder. Shippo and Akira tried to lift the giant crystal, only to find it was so heavy they couldn't budge it. As Shippo stood up from the attempt, his copy of the latest Naruto manga slipped out of his pocket and landed on the meteor. Shippo reached for his book since he didn't want the pages to get dirty before he had a chance to read them. Before the kitsune's hand could grasp the book, the green glow intensified suddenly and a huge wind seemed to spring up around the group. The manga flipped open and the wind ruffled the pages to a page featuring Naruto and his sensei Jiraiya returning to Konoha after their three year training trip. The manga started glowing and a tornado seemed to appear from the book. Shippo stared at the tornado in shock before realizing that it was sucking him into itself. "Shippo!" yelled Rin as she grabbed her boyfriend to try to pull him away, only to find her being pulled in also. The teens all tried to run, but the wind sucked them all in. Jaken was able to grab and hold onto a tree trunk and so saved himself. The little toad stared in shock as the tornado died down and disappeared as the book closed. The green glow surrounding the meteor disappeared, but even with no light Jaken could tell that his charges were not to be found.

Kimiko yelped as the tornado tossed her into Miyuki. The hanyou grabbed her friend's arm and then snagged Hiryuu with her tail as he zipped past her clutching Kudora. Flamie had climbed into Kimiko's haori for safety, leaving her other arm free to latch onto Hiryuu's arm. Kimiko could see her friends all linking arms and yelled, "Everyone just hang on!" Finally they all managed to link up. Akira had Miyuki's other arm with Ryeka next to him. Rin had Ryeka's other arm grasped in her tail, while her arms were locked around Shippo's. Shippo had a hold of Hiryuu with his tails, but he knew he couldn't hold on forever. "What the heck is going on?" yelled Akira. "I think I've felt something like this before when Grandma Washu opened a warp hole to another dimension!" called Ryeka. Shippo suddenly felt his tails loosing their grip on Hiyruu. At the same time, Rin's grip on Ryeka and Akira's grip on Kimiko broke. Everyone struggled to maintain their holds, but the wind proved to be to strong. Kimiko, Hiryuu, and Miyuki were flung one way while Akira and Ryeka shot off in a different direction, as were Rin and Shippo. "Onii-chan!" yelled Kimiko and Miyuki as they watched their brothers disappear. Two answering shouts of "Imouto!" were heard as they lost sight of everybody. Miyuki managed to grab onto Hiryuu and the three teens held each other tight as they felt the wind start to die down. Kimiko's last sight was of her friends clinging desperately to her before everything went black.

Jaken, meanwhile, had carefully grabbed the Naruto manga and ran to Aun-Un. The little toad rode to Sesshomaru's castle as fast as he could; worried that he would have Sesshomaru and Inuyasha after his head for allowing their little girls to disappear like this. Upon reaching the castle, Jaken found Sesshomaru and Lina on top of one of the towers staring in the direction of the meteor. "Jaken, what are you doing back here?" asked Lina with a frown. Jaken jumped to the ground at Sesshomaru's feet and quickly told the two what had happened. Lina's face grew pale and Sesshomaru started cursing under his breath near the end of the tale. "Ryeka was right, I thought I felt a dimensional rip being created. But it happened so fast I couldn't pinpoint where it was," said Lina. The demi-goddes youkai carefully picked up the book and a blue light surrounded the manga. "I can feel their life force sealed inside this book, they are all there. But I can't bring them back," gasped Lina. Sesshomaru punched a small dragon statue on the corner of the tower, turning it into fine dust. "Then how do we get them out?" he growled. "I don't know…" said Lina, but whatever she was about to say after that was unheard by Sesshomaru as he stormed down the stairs and into his office. When Lina went to try to console her mate, she found her request for him to listen and talk to her denied by the crashing of something heavy on the shoji door. Her continued requests were met with stony silence and Lina became upset. Sesshomaru was usually very open with her, and this side of her mate didn't seem to care that Lina was in despair over the loss of Rin and her friends.

"Jaken, I am going to ask my parents and aunt in the future for help as well as inform Kagome, Inuyasha, Mirouku, and Sango about this development. When my mate calms down and will listen to reason, tell him to call me from Kagome's house." Said Lina as she exited the castle and prepared to take off. Jaken nodded, knowing that Lina would do everything in her power to return Rin and the other children to their rightful places. Lina's wings sprouted from her back and she took off, flying as fast as she could to the village. There she found Mirouku and Sango. After hearing a quick summary, the couple immediately followed Lina to the well and helped her break the unhappy news to Kagome and Inuyasha. Kagome left a note for her son Tadao, who was spending the day at a friend's house, and her mother explaining what was going on and called the Saotome and Misaki families to tell them what had happened. Lina had already called her mother on her cell phone and Belldandy told them to all meet at the Morisato residence. A quick drive in the family van had everyone at the temple/house where they hoped they could figure out some way to bring the lost children back. Washu and Skuld had already started discussing the different ways such an event could occur while Urd called Yggdrasil for any help they could give. Urd finally hung up the phone and went to talk with Skuld and Washu. The three soon exited Skuld's lab and asked everyone to gather outside where there was enough room for everyone. "Okay, we've figured out that we can duplicate the accident easily," said Skuld as she glanced at a page full of notes. "Great, so when can we get our kids back?" asked Ryoko nervously. Washu sighed and said, "That's the problem, even with both Skuld and I working together it will take a month to build a machine that will allow us to bring the kids back." As the faces of all the moms in the room paled, Urd spoke up. "Kami-sama did figure out a way to allow us to make sure the kids know we are working on bringing them back. Belldandy will go to the dimension they got sucked into to grant a wish to an individual there that Kimiko will be with at the time. Belldandy will explain what has happened and ensure all the kids are safe for the time being before she will return here." All the parents looked relieved and relaxed. Skuld started flipping through the Naruto manga and gasped as she found a panel featuring Kimiko, Hiryuu, and Miyuki talking to an older Naruto and his teacher Jiraiya. (AN: They are only going to be showing up in the pages of this particular Naruto manga, not the thousands of copies printed and shipped around the world) Upon seeing this, Belldandy went to Yggdrasil to confirm that Naruto was going to be the one to receive the wish. Now all they had to do was wait for the boy to pick up a phone and make a call.

**Well, hope the first chapter wasn't to short, I'm working on the second chapter now, but my family is going to LA for Christmas. I should be back around New Years with at least chapter 2 finished, probably three since I get to bring my laptop and type up all my ideas during the trip. Don't worry, I have through chapter 4 outlined and the rest of the chapters should be longer than this one. Sayonora till next time everyone!**


	2. A Whole New World

**Roar of the Dragon: Okay, apparently the websites I included in the last chapter and the review won't show up, (stupid site), so I'll have to give you the details on what to search for to find the site addresses through Google in a review for chapter 2 so you can all learn about Tenchi Muyo! , Ranma ½, and Naruto if you don't know anything about them. Since the Naruto part of this story will take place after the current part of the Naruto storyline, I highly recommend going to the Naruto site to read the whole manga before reading this chapter. Hope everyone had a great Christmas or whatever December holiday you celibrate. I got an X-box that I'm thinking of exchanging for a PS2, something I never thought my parents would give me!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Inuyasha, Ranma 1/2, Oh my Goddess!, or Tenchi Muyo. If I did I would have a PS2, a Game cube, and an X-box and never have to worry about putting in this disclaimer.**

Kimiko slowly became aware of the sounds and smells of a forest around her. The hanyou girl sat up slowly and rubbed the back of her head. "Ouch, note to self: wear a helmet next time you're traveling through a dimensional vortex. I wonder where everyone else is? FLAMIE, where are you boy?" called Kimiko. A slight rustling in some nearby bushes followed by a small yelp led Kimiko to finding her pet dragon stuck in bunch of vines. A quick slash of Kimiko's claws freed Flamie, who promptly tackled his mistress and checked her all over for injuries. "Down boy, we have to find the others so we can figure out a way to get back home," said Kimiko. The two started looking around and, with Kimiko using all her senses to their fullest, they soon found Kudora standing guard over an unconscious Hiryuu in her large form. The fire cat changed back to her small form and rubbed against Flamie while purring as Kimiko checked on her friend. "Well, Hiryuu seems to be fine, now we just have to find Miyuki. I just hope the others ended up this dimension also," said Kimiko. Kudora transformed to her large form and Kimiko placed the unconscious Hiryuu on the fire cat's back before starting to sniff out Miyuki's location. Kimiko was starting to get nervous when she finally picked up her friend's scent. The hanyou girl followed the scent trail for several minutes. ::Hmm, Miyuki should be just through the next line of trees…:: THUMP! "ITAI!" exclaimed two female voices. Kimiko had ran smack into Miyuki, who was running in towards the scent of her friends, causing both girls to end up with their rear on the ground and a bump on their head. "Note to self number two: when tracking by scent, keep your eyes looking ahead of yourself so you don't crash into whatever you are tracking," moaned Kimiko.

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"So how much longer do you think he'll be out cold?" asked Kimiko as Miyuki examined Hiryuu. The catgirl shrugged and said, "I don't know, there aren't any signs of bruises anywhere on his body that I can see. Did any of our stuff end up with us?" Kimiko nodded and said, "I was carrying the cooking gear so we can use the kettle to heat some hot water for you. Other than that I don't think we have anything we can use. I'll try to rustle up some food from the local wildlife, but don't get your hopes up for much." Miyuki nodded as Kimiko continued, "You see about making some kind of shelter from logs, branches, and whatever else you can find." With that, Kimiko bounded off into the woods, nose sniffing the air for any game she could find. Miyuki left Flamie and Kudora to watch over Hiryuu while she searched the immediate area for logs she could use to form a lean-to. After finding a few nice thick logs and dragging them to the clearing to form the base of the shelter, Miyuki started using her _Ki_ claws to cut some more logs and a few thick branches from a dead tree nearby. Miyuki soon had a very nice three person shelter set up and a fire pit outside for cooking. Kudora curled up in the shelter with Hiryuu using her as a pillow while Flamie helped dig the fire pit. Miyuki had gathered enough wood to last the night and the little dragon eliminated the need for matches, tinder, and kindling. Miyuki soon had a nice fire going and sat on a rock she had rolled over for a seat while scratching Flamie's head and waiting for Kimiko to return or Hiryuu to wake up.

Kimiko returned with a young boar she caught as well as two rabbits. The hanyou girl expertly cut the animals into roastable portions and skewered the meat on sticks to roast over the fire. Miyuki found a nearby stream and boiled water in a kettle to allow her to change back to her normal form. Luckily, Miyuki's ability to pull mallets and other bashing weapons from nowhere worked in this world and the girl armed herself with a bokken in case any wild animals attacked them. Hiryuu finally woke up just after the meat finished cooking and was treated to a face wash courtesy of Kudora's tongue. The young monk was then greeted by two enthusiastic hugs from the girls and if he was like his father, said girls would have been squeezed and Hiryuu lying on the ground out cold. Luckily, Hiryuu inherited Sango's common sense and doesn't act like his father. Hiryuu got to spend the evening being pampered by the girls since he had just woken up, not having to lift a finger except to use his chopsticks to eat his food. The three friends discussed what they would do the next day and decided Kimiko would climb the tallest tree she could find and look for any nearby cities or towns after breakfast.

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"See anything?" yelled Miyuki from her position halfway up the tree Kimiko had chosen. "Yeah, I see a large village, more like a small city, in the distance. I can't make out many details, but I think there is a large cliff behind it," yelled Kimiko. The two girls climbed down to join Hiryuu, who had waited on the ground with Flamie and Kudora and they started walking in the direction of the town. Kimiko kept and arrow at the string of her bow incase of trouble while Miyuki had pulled a bokken from mallet space. The next three hours passed peacefully and Kimiko didn't smell any youkai. After a half hour rest break by a stream, the group kept walking till noon, when they ate leftover meat from their dinner the previous night. An hour later they were off again, though Kimiko could sense someone was watching her that she couldn't find no matter how quickly she turned her head or sniffed the air. The group finally reached a road that went in the direction of the town they were heading for and happily said good bye to cutting their way through brush. About half an hour after that they found a small roadside inn where they were able to obtain a quick snack and rest. As they left the inn, Kimiko became aware of two people approaching them from behind. One smelled slightly like a kitsune, while the other smelled of sake and cheap perfume.

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"Oi, Ero-senin, look at those people ahead of us, do they look at all strange to you?" asked a young blond haired teen to the old man with long white hair beside him. The man grunted and smacked the teen on the head. "I've told you before, don't call me that! Call me Jiraiya-sensei or something more respectable! And all I see is a monk accompanied by two visions of loveliness." The blond sighed and said, "Ero-sennin, you know how my senses have been heightened by Kyuubi? Well that dark haired girl smells like a dog even more than Kiba did and the girl smells like a cat! I'm also sensing some major power in the monk and dark haired girl." The older man's eyes narrowed as he took in the bow and arrows the dark haired girl carried and the way the red head walked. "They've seen plenty of combat, that is for sure. The read head looks relaxed but her body is actually ready to move at a moment's notice to attack or defend. I don't like this, they look like they're heading towards Konoha. And what are those two animals with them? The cat seems to have two tails while I have no idea what the little red thing is." The blond glanced at the group ahead of them and said, "Should we question them?"

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Up ahead, Kimiko could only catch bits of the conversation since the breeze was blowing away from her and was starting to get worried. A large cloud of smoke suddenly sprung up around the group and caused them to stop in surprise. Kimiko suddenly felt the blade of a knife against her throat and pressing against her back. From what she could see of the arm holding the knife against her neck as the smoke cleared the person holding her hostage had a bright orange jacket on. The knife was actually a kunai and which, combined with the fact that she knew only one ninja that wore bright orange, meant one thing. ::I've been taken hostage by Naruto's Kage Bushins!:: she thought. "All right, no funny moves and no one gets hurt. Just answer our questions and everyone should be able to come out of this in one piece." Kimiko slowly let the arrow in her hands fall to the ground while Miyuki dropped her bokken. An old man with long white hair appeared in front of the three friends in a puff of smoke, causing Kimiko to groan, "Kuso, not the pervert hermit." The man frowned and did a silly little dance as he said his name was Jiraiya. Miyuki rolled her eyes and said, "AKA Ero-senin, super pervert, author of Icha Icha Paradise, and Tsunade-sama's personal punching bag," which earned a chuckle from the clones holding the group hostage.

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"Well, looks like you know about his habits, so I promise you if he tries any funny stuff I'll let you try to kick his ass before I do it for you," said a blond teen as he appeared beside Jiraiya. "Now will you please tell us who you are, why you are heading towards Konoha with open weapons, and what those two creatures are?" asked the blond. Kimiko slowly nodded and said, "I am Kimiko Taisho, the monk is Hiryuu, and the red head is Miyuki Saotome. We had on idea we were approaching Konoha, we were just heading towards the closest large settlement we could see from a tree in the forest. We got lost and separated from our friends and were hoping to find them there. As for these two, the little red guy is my pet dragon Flamie and this dainty lady is Hiryuu's pet fire cat Kudora." The blond glanced at Jiraiya and the kunai wielding clones disappeared in puffs of smoke. "Okay, I'm Uzu…" he started to say before he was interrupted by Miyuki. "Uzumaki Naruto, container of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, Master of Kage Bushin no Jutsu, wielder of the Rasengan, Sexy no jutsu, and harem no jutsu, and future Rokudaime of Konoha." Jiraiya and Naruto both stared at Miyuki for a second as they digested everything she said, then Jiraiya's eyes hardened as he said, "So you were coming to Konoha to try to steal Kyuubi? Well, I'm afraid I can't let you get away with that," before starting to make seals. Kimiko stared at Jiraiya in shock then fell to her knees laughing. "Steal Kyuubi? Yeah right, that fox would eat me up before I could blink if he was let out! Besides, I don't want anything to do with a demon fox bent on destroying Konoha being set free!"

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"That is unfortunate, because you will be!" said a voice as a kunai was once again pressed against the throats of all three friends. Kimiko smelled a strong fish odor and took a wild guess. "Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigake Kisame?" she squeaked. Naruto glanced at her, but quickly turned his attention to whoever was behind the group. Kimiko saw Kisame leap out of the woods behind Naruto silently and knew that Itachi was the one holding the kunai to her throat. Kimiko quickly whipped her tail upward, hitting Itachi in the groin just enough to distract him for a moment. In that moment, Kimiko chomped down on the wrist holding the kunai to her neck and the Bushin disappeared in a puff of smoke. A quick flick of Kimiko's claws and the clones holding Miyuki and Hiryuu hostage disappeared in the same way. Kimiko dropped the magic spell hiding her hanyou features and spun around, scooping up her bow as she spun, in time to catch a kunai Itachi attempted to stab at her heart with the bow and block the attack. Jiraiya was suddenly beside Kimiko as he delivered a punch to the Uchiha murderer. Itachi easily avoided the blow by leaping backwards, then focused his eyes on Kimiko The Sharingan spun rapidly and Kimiko found herself in a negative world with a blood red moon in the sky. Kimiko found herself strapped on a cross and surrounded by a large number of Itachi duplicates, each one holding a katana. "For the next seventy two hours, you will feel me stabbing you over and over again," said one of the Itachi doubles as they all raised their swords. Just before the first blow could strike Kimiko, all the duplicates winced in pain and Kimiko found herself back in the world of the living and Flamie sinking his fangs into Itachi's leg. As Itachi attempted to shake the little dragon off, he suddenly stepped aside as Naruto lunged at him with a Rasengan in his hand. "You all right?" asked the real Naruto as the attacking one proved to be a clone that disappeared as Itachi succeeded in throwing Flamie at it. Kimiko nodded and put an arrow to the string of her bow as she said, "Lets kick his ass!" Flamie landed awkwardly behind Itachi and looked very angry as he glared at the missing nin's back.

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Miyuki meanwhile had seen Kisame start to make a series of seals and grinned as mist started to blanket the area around her but left Kimiko and Itachi in a clear space. The shark man appeared behind Jiraiya to attack, only to feel two pairs of claws sink into his back. "You made a big mistake mister fish face," said Miyuki, now in her catgirl form from the water in the mist. "How did you find me?" growled Kisame as he swung an arm at Miyuki only to see her bend over backwards to avoid the blow and then do a back flip, kicking him in the chin. "What the hell? What happened to you?" gasped the missing nin as he took in Miyuki's cat ears, tail, and paws while rubbing his chin. "Your mist transformed me into this form, as for how I found you, I can smell you even in this mist," snarled Miyuki before she rolled to the side to avoid a slash of Kisame's SameHade. Jiraiya suddenly yelled, "Yomi no Shoutaku!" and a swamp appeared beneath Kisame. The shark man cursed and tried to pull himself free, only to sink lower into the ooze. Now that her opponent was stationary, Miyuki gathered her _ki_ in her cat claws. "Neko tsume!" exclaimed Miyuki as she made a slashing motion at Kisame. Four waves of energy formed in front of Miyuki as she made the slash, then they shot at Kisame and hit him in the chest. The shark man found four slash marks on his chest as if Miyuki's claws had actually hit him.

(---------)

Itachi was having some trouble dealing will all of Naruto's Kage Bushins, Kimiko's arrows, and Flamie's fireballs all at once. Every now and then an attack would slip through his guard and cause him some damage. He had to admit he had underestimated Kimiko and her friends, the red head was giving Kisame a hard time with Jiraiya's help and the dragon was definitely a threat to him. Kimiko's arrows were also deadly, they seemed to be surrounded by chakra that was impossible to look at directly without his eyes hurting. Naruto's Kage Bushin were more of an annoyance than a threat, but Itachi was forced to dodge Rasengan after Rasengan every now and again. With all this occupying his attention, the missing nin didn't notice Hiryuu sneaking around the battle field to place an ofuda on the ground behind him. Itachi leapt into the air to avoid a fireball and one of his feet touched the talisman as he landed. An electric shock hit Itachi, causing his body to convulse and stop moving because of his nerves being overloaded. Four Naruto clones appeared behind Itachi as a fifth leapt forward to slug him in the face. Itachi fell backwards and all four clones kicked him into the air yelling "U…ZU…MA…KI!" as a sixth Naruto leapt into the air to deliver a vicious axe kick to Itachi's head as he yelled, "Naruto Rendan!" sending the missing nin plummeting towards the ground, only to meet a fireball from Flamie. Itachi barely pulled off a Kawarimi in time to save himself and leave a log to be turned to ash. "Kisame, we're leaving," said Itachi as his eyes started spinning rapidly before the missing nin yelled, "Amaterasu!" and dark flames shot out of his eyes at Naruto and Kimiko. Naruto's eyes widened and he hurriedly pulled Kimiko out of the way of the deadly attack. Kisame meanwhile had managed to absorb some of Jiraiya's chakra with SameHade and deactivate the Swamp of the Underworld and now broke off his fight with Miyuki. "We'll finish this later kitty cat!" growled the shark man before he seemed to sink into the ground as Itachi disappeared in a burst of flame. Kimiko scanned the area, finding no trace of either Akatsuki member's scent on the wind. "I think they're gone for now. I'm pretty sure the two of you have some new questions for us, but lets keep moving while we talk," said Kimiko as Flamie scampered up to her in his small form and she picked him up. The two Konoha shinobi glanced at each other and nodded, so the whole group resumed their journey with Kimiko explaining the story of the Shikon Jewel, her friends and her own background, and how they came to this world.

(---------)

By the time Kimiko finished her story, the gates of Konoha were in sight. Naruto became noticeably excited, he hadn't seen any of his few friends from home in three years after all. The blond shinobi started drooling as he said, "I can't wait to eat at Ichiraku, three years without their ramen is one thousand and ninety four days to many!" (That is two whole years and 364 days) Kimiko licked her lips at the mention of ramen, then remembered she didn't have any local money. "Umm, Naruto-kun, is there some way we can exchange our local currency for yours?" asked Kimiko. Jiraiya heard the question and appeared by Kimiko's side in a second. "I'll pay you to model for my…" WHAM! "Yeah right, like I would pose for you!" snorted Kimiko as she glared at the swirly eyed senin. Naruto sighed at his sensei's antics and opened Gama-chan, his froggy wallet, pulling out some coins and bills. Kimiko explained the Japanese currency and Naruto figured out that Konoha's currency was the same in amounts. Naruto loaned Kimiko three thousand ninja dollars, the local currency, which would be enough for a few nights in a hotel in Konoha. Kimiko planned to ask around for odd jobs. Miyuki had worked part time at the Cat Café for old Cologne to improve her speed by helping Shampoo as a waitress, so Kimiko figured her friend would get a job at a local restaurant. Hiryuu had inherited Mirouku's skills with sensing 'ominous clouds' over buildings, but he only did it to those who could afford it. Kimiko imagined the Hyuga would receive a visit from her friend soon.

(---------)

As the group reached the gates of Konoha, an Anbu appeared blocking their way in a puff of smoke. "Who are you and what business do you have in Konoha?" asked the Anbu. Jiraiya started to do his stupid little dance as Naruto edged away from him to avoid looking like an idiot. The Anbu sweat dropped, then glanced over the others, his eyes flicking back to Naruto's face once before moving on, and let them in. The group walked into the village and Kimiko saw Naruto relax slightly. "It is good to be home," said the blond shinobi softly, though Kimiko could smell the nervousness on him slightly. Indeed, villagers were already realizing that the 'demon child' had returned. Naruto sighed and rolled his eyes before yelling out, "BEHOLD, THE FUTURE HOKAGE HAS RETURNED!" Jiraiya snorted but didn't say anything as Naruto's stupid remark managed to defuse the building tension in the air. The group headed towards the Hokage tower, Naruto was barely containing himself from running through the streets in an attempt to get to Ichiraku. Upon reaching the building, the group entered under the eyes of two Jounin guards and, after going up a few flights of stairs, walked up to a desk where a woman with short dark hair sat going through some papers. "Oi, Shizune-nee-chan! I'm back!" exclaimed Naruto. Shizune looked up and her face broke into a huge smile as she saw Naruto. "Naruto, we've missed you. Go ahead, you know the way to Tsunade-sama's office." Naruto grinned and led the way to a large pair of doors with the symbol for Fire on each door. Kimiko could hear the sound of soft snoring from inside and whispered, "She is asleep!" to Naruto, who gave a huge grin in response before he kicked open the door and yelled, "WAKE UP BAA-CHAN!"

(---------)

Tsunade woke up and instinctively grabbed a paperweight from her desk and threw it towards the door. Naruto simply ducked and let the weight hit Jiraiya in the face. "Naruto, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Tsunade-sama?" asked the Hokage as she rubbed her head before standing up and stretching. Naruto simply smirked and let Tsunade get a good look at him. Gone was the short blond brat who had changed her outlook on life. Standing before her was a tall young man that looked like a slightly younger version of the Fourth Hokage, Yondaime. Naruto had discarded his old jumpsuit for a more reasonable outfit. A light orange jacket covered a blue undershirt and the top of a pair of khaki cargo pants with detachable pant legs. A shuiken holster was secured to Naruto's right leg and a kunai pouch at his hip, while his Hitai-ate proudly rested on his forehead. Naruto's left arm was now wrapped in bandages and Tsunade could sense the faint red glow of Kyuubi's chakra underneath the bandages. A slight cough behind the teen caused Naruto to turn around and Tsunade saw the kanji for fox was on the back of the jacket. Naruto glanced at Kimiko, who was tapping her foot slightly with an impatient look and turned back to Tsunade. "You had better sit back down Tsunade-nii-chan, we have a long story to tell you.

(---------)

(Two hours later)

"…and that's how we got here," said Kimiko as she finished telling the same story she had told Jiraiya and Naruto. Tsunade was amazed, she knew that if either Kimiko hadn't revealed her Inu hanyou features or Miyuki splashed herself with water to demonstrate her curse, she wouldn't have believed a word of their tale. Add in the fact that they fought off two Akatsuki members and Tsunade felt like she needed a drink. "Well, I have no problem with you staying here until you find your friends. I suggest you all stay at Naruto's place," said Tsunade with a hidden grin at what she was about to reveal. "Nani, but Baa-chan, my old apartment must have been either ruined or gone now. Besides, it wouldn't hold four people!" Tsunade smirked and reached into one of her desk's drawers and pulled out a scroll that she tossed to the blond boy. Naruto took a look at the scroll and was surprised to see his name written on the outside. "Yondaime left instructions that you were to receive this after you reached fifth teen years of age or became a Chunin, whichever came first." Naruto carefully opened the scroll, finding it was a letter addressed to him.

_Dear Naruto,_

_If you are reading this then one of three things have happened._

_(a) You stole this scroll from the Hokage library before either of the other events occured_

_(b) You have reached 15 years of age and/ or Chunin rank, whichever comes first_

_(c) Satorobi or the Gondaime decided you were mature enough to read this_

_First of all, I want to ask for your forgiveness for burdening you with Kyuubi. Hopefully the villagers will have treated you as the hero you are, but if they haven't I hope you can forgive me for making your life so hard. Either way, there are a few things that you need to know._

_I'm sure you've often wondered why I chose you to become the container of Kyuubi. The truth is I could think of no better person than my own son. Yes, you are my son Naruto, though your last name came from your mother's family, of which she is the sole survivor. Her name was Hikari Uzumaki and she loved you till the moment she died protecting you from falling rubble in Kyuubi's last attack. I was too late to save her and in revenge I decided to make you the guard of her killer's prison. By now you probably have learned how to use Kyuubi's chakra and talk with it, so you should talk to the fox and it will confirm what I have written here. I am sorry that I left you with no parents to raise you but I was unable to kill Kyuubi and sealing it in a different way would allow it the opportunity to escape._

_Now that you know about me and your mother, I want you to move into my family's old house. It is located across from the Hyuga mansion and protected by a special jutsu. This jutsu prevents animals and people from entering the house as well as protect the buildings from fire and other mishaps. The jutsu can only be removed by tracing the Uzumaki crest on the gateway with some of your blood. After that the preventions from entering will be disabled unless you repeat the tracing inside the house by the front door. The protections will never be disabled though. Feel free to move into the house and make yourself at home. Watch out for the third step on the staircase, it always creaks. If you need a guide around the house ask my lazy pupil Kakashi to show you around._

_Your Loving father,_

_Toshiro(talented; intelligent) Hayashi(woods, forest) the Fourth Hokage_

Naruto stared at the scroll in shock, he had always wondered about the identity of his parents. The only thing he knew was that they had died in Kyuubi's attack on Konoha. As the others crowded around to read the scroll, Naruto darted into his mind to talk to Kyuubi. Naruto's eyes dulled slightly and Jiraiya caught him before he collapsed to the floor. "Idiot, I told him to sit down before using that jutsu!" growled the toad senin. "What happened to him?" asked Tsunade. "He used a mental jutsu to enter his own mind and talk to Kyuubi," said Jiraiya as he placed Naruto's body in a chair for safety. "Talk to Kyuubi? Is the seal weakening?" gasped Tsunade. Jiraiya shook his head and actually smiled. "Lets just say Kyuubi is a lot nicer than we thought and won't allow any harm to come to Naruto," said Jiraiya.

(Inside Naruto's mind)

Naruto faced the cage that kept Kyuubi separate from the rest of his mind. "Is this true?" asked Naruto. A form approached the other side of the cage and a large nine tailed kitsune female walked out of the shadows until her face was against the bars. **"It is, you smell and look almost exactly like Yondaime now. I didn't want to tell you because he told Satorobi to keep it a secret so his enemies wouldn't seek to get revenge on him through you. I could hear everything they said after he sealed me inside you kit, so I was shocked he would do something like this to his own kit."** Naruto sighed slipped through the bars to scratch behind Kyuubi's ears. "You know, you never told me just why you attacked Konoha in the first place," said Naruto. Kyuubi sighed, all nine of her tails drooping noticeably. **"My beloved kit was stolen from me and placed under a curse by the bastard Orochimaru. He wanted revenge because your father was given the position of Yondaime instead of him. Orochimaru forced me to attack Konoha and threatened to kill my kit if I didn't."** Naruto was scowling now and imagining ramming a Rasengan up the snake senin's ass.** "I was driven off by your father summoning Gamabunta and the combined force of the Anbu and ran back to where Orochimaru had my kit. He said he wanted your father dead and disappeared without releasing my kit from the sleeping curse he planted on her. I could not awaken her and my grief turned to rage. I returned to the village and was soon sealed inside you by your father. I have no idea what happened to my kit, but I suspect Orochimaru killed her."** As Kyuubi's tale concluded, the kitsune transformed into a woman with long flowing red hair clad in a dark blue dress that looked like the night sky. Orange fox ears and nine orange tails were the only sign of Kyuubi being a kitsune. Naruto hugged Kyuubi as she sank to her knees sobbing. The two had become very close in the last three years, with Kyuubi coming to regard Naruto as her kit and Naruto regarding Kyuubi as a surrogate mother. "Go back to your friends, we'll talk later," said Kyuubi after drying her tears and kissing Naruto on the forehead. Naruto nodded and slipped through the bars of the cage before activating the jutsu to send him back to the waking world.

(Hokage's office)

"How long is he just going to sit there?" asked Miyuki as she looked at Naruto. "Probably about five to ten more minutes, that's how long their conversations usually last," said Jiraiya with a shrug. Indeed, five minutes later Naruto's eyes regained the sparkle of life and he stood up and stretched. "Oi brat, you learn anything useful?" asked Jiraiya. Naruto scowled at his teacher before saying, "Kyuubi-okaa-san confirmed what the scroll said. She also told me why she attacked Konoha fifth teen years ago." "Kyuubi is female?" exclaimed Tsunade. "Naruto nodded and proceeded to repeat what Kyuubi had told him. Tsunade scowled when she learned Orochimaru was behind the whole attack, vowing to make the 'slimy snake loving bastard son of a btch' pay for it with his life. Kimiko and her friends were surprised, but they were used to weird stuff and shrugged it off. Tsunade stopped ranting about how she would rip Orochimaru to pieces long enough to hand Naruto a map to the house and the key to the front door. Naruto led the other teens out of the office while Jiraiya and Tsunade discussed the situation of Kyuubi and tried to figure out if they could use it to their advantage.

(---------)

"I forgot how bad the glares could be," sighed Naruto as he led the way towards the high class part of Konoha where the more powerful clans lived. They passed the entrance to the abandoned Uchiha estate, Naruto giving the reminder of his former comrade and best friend a brief glance before proceeding to the Uzumaki estates. Naruto whistled out loud as he took in the two ornate gates they were approaching, one of which bore the Hyuga crest. As Naruto approached the gates, the Hyuga one burst open to reveal a teary eyed Hyuga Hinata charging out of the manor. Hinata looked up and her eyes widened. She tried to stop, but didn't have enough room and the Hyuga heiress crashed into Naruto. Neji was following his cousin, a Chunin vest now covering his normal outfit, and stared at the position Hinata and Naruto were in. Naruto had turned to look in Hinata's direction as he heard her so the two ended up almost kissing. Hinata's face resembled a tomato, while Naruto's eyes were bulging out of his eye sockets. "O-o-ohayou Naruto-kun!" gasped Hinata as she started to get up, only to slip and feel her lips press against Naruto's. Hinata's heart beat sped up as she realized she was kissing Naruto. ::I hope this isn't a dream!:: thought the kunoichi happily. Naruto meanwhile, was scared stiff that Neji or Hinata would kill him, given his experiences with Sakura and kisses.

Neji, Kimiko, and Miyuki all had small smiles on their faces, since they all knew of Hinata's crush on Naruto. Neji turned to face Kimiko and her friends and the Chunin took in the strangers' appearances before bowing slightly and saying, "Ohayou, I am Hyuga Neji. May I ask who you are and what business you have in Konoha?" while activating his **Byakugan** to estimate their strength in case he needed to fight them. Neji was surprised to see a pair of dog ears and a tail on Kimiko, while the outline of a sort of humanoid cat surrounded Miyuki. Hiryuu's spiritual powers were like a bright white light to the Hyuga prodigy, while Kimiko's miko powers showed in a bright pink glow. Seeing the look Neji was giving them and the tell tale sign of the veins around his eyes showing that meant the Byakugan was active, Kimiko and Miyuki guessed that Neji could see their hidden aspects. His next statement confirmed this. "What kind of creatures are you two girls?" demanded Neji. "How many more times are we going to have to explain this?" said Miyuki with a sigh. "How about Naruto lets us stash his stuff in the house then we explain everything?" said Kimiko. Miyuki nodded and poked Naruto on the head. "Sorry to break you two lovebirds up, but could you undo the jutsu on the mansion so we can put our stuff inside, Naruto?" asked Miyuki. Naruto and Hinata snapped out of their shock and stood up, Naruto running up to the gate and following his father's instructions to undo the jutsu. The puzzled Hyuga cousins followed the group through the gates, where they found a very nice large house with a dojo and library. The backyard was even bigger than the Hyuga gardens, containing an obstacle course and a small lake that doubled as a pool.

"Naruto, this was the former house of the fourth Hokage, and it was sealed at his death to prevent the entry of anyone or anything. How were you able to undo the seal?" asked Neji. "Easy, Yondaime was my father!" replied Naruto. Seeing the look of disbelief on Neji's face, Naruto held up the scroll and said, "I just found out today from this scroll, so I can understand your disbelief." Neji nodded and followed the group upstairs with Hinata. After finding the bedrooms, everyone chose one to put their stuff in. Naruto opened the door to his chosen room, which looked like it had been his parents' old room, and dropped his pack in shock. Lying on the bed was a orange four tailed kitsune fast asleep. Kyuubi suddenly slammed against the bars holding her separate from Naruto. **)Akemi? How can she be here?(** exclaimed the kitsune. What do you mean? asked Naruto. )**That is my kit Akemi, the one Orochimaru stole and cursed!**( replied the agitated kitsune. Naruto then noticed a scroll lying beside Akemi. Opening it, he found another letter to him from his father.

_Naruto,_

_I don't have much time to explain but I believe this kitsune kit is the reason Kyuubi attacked Konoha. I can't seem to awaken her, so I'm pretty sure that someone captured her and used her to force Kyuubi into attacking our village. I found the kit three kilometers from Konoha and saw Kyuubi trying to awaken her but failing and then Kyuubi let out a howl of pure grief and ran back towards Konoha. I grabbed the kit and brought her here, hopefully now that you have returned to the house you can find some way to awaken her. Ask a Hyuga or Uchiha to examine her to determine what kind of jutsu holds her in this sleep. Kyuubi might be able to help you also._

_Your father,_

_Toshiro Hayashi_

"Neji, get in here!" yelled Naruto as he finished reading the scroll. Neji ran into the room in a blur followed by Hinata and the others. Upon seeing the sleeping Akemi, everyone's eyes widened. Naruto tossed the scroll to Neji, who caught and read it before looking at Naruto wide eyed. "So that's why I saw what I saw during our fight in the Chunin exam!" exclaimed the white eyed boy. Naruto nodded grimly and winced as Hinata snatched the letter to read it also. Her eyes widened and Naruto could see the pieces clicking together inside her head. Hinata slowly looked up at Naruto and said, "Yondaime sealed the Kyuubi inside you, right Naruto-kun?" Naruto slowly nodded, then stared in surprise as Hinata tackled him in a hug with tears pooring down her cheeks. "All that hate directed at you, the villagers calling you demon child, and the cold attitude of our parents towards you all makes sense now. I can't believe they would put all the blame on you for something you had no control over!" said Hinata as she hugged him. "You don't fear me?" whispered Naruto. Hinata shook her head as she said, "No, I've watched you since we were in the academy Naruto-kun. You never once acted like a demon and only looked for acceptance for who you are. You are Naruto-kun, not a demon or Kyuubi." Naruto hugged Hinata back, tears of happiness running down his whiskered cheeks. Kyuubi smiled and thought **::My little kit has finally found love::** After the two broke apart, Neji placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Naruto, now I know why you were able to beat me. I thought no one else could understand the burden I carried with this curse seal. I was wrong, you had an even greater burden but you still stayed happy and fought to change you destiny. I am proud to call you my friend." Naruto smiled at Neji then glanced at a telephone on the wall. "I'd better call Tsunade-baa-chan and tell her about this so she can come and help us," said Naruto as he found a button labeled **HOKAGE OFFICE** and pushed it.

"Thank you for calling the Goddess Relief office, a representative will be there to assist you in a moment," said a woman's voice before the connection was severed and a dial tone sounded. Naruto looked at the phone like it was going to bite him and was reaching for the button again when the mirror on what he guessed was his mother's old nightstand started glowing. All three Konoha shinobi grabbed for kunai or shuriken until Kimiko exclaimed, "Belldandy-oba-san?!" as a woman seemed to step out of the mirror. Neji had activated his Byakugan out of reflex and saw a bright white light surrounding the woman as well as a large pair of angel wings sprouting from her back. Belldandy glanced around the room and asked, "Kimiko, is everyone all right? Jaken told us what happened and I was sent to confirm you all arrived in this world safely." Kimiko looked worried as she said, "I have no idea where Aniki, Rin, Ryeka, or Akira are, we got separated when we were sucked into this world." Naruto was quickly explaining the basics of what happened with his new friends to Hinata and Neji while Kimiko and the goddess talked, though he didn't know about Belldandy. Kimiko turned and quickly introduced Belldandy to the Konoha shinobi and explained the idea of Naruto getting the wish. Belldandy smiled at Naruto, who was thinking really hard. ::Lets see, I could wish Akemi was free of Orochimaru's curse, but I don't know how she would react to being freed without Oka-san to calm her down. Maybe…:: "Umm, Belldandy-san? Do you have the power to restore Kyuubi to a physical body with an appropriate amount of chakra and her kitsune abilities while I keep most of her chakra inside me so Akatsuki can't get it?" asked Naruto. Belldandy looked Naruto up and down and seemed to be analyzing him before she smiled and nodded, saying, "Let me discuss it with Kyuubi-san in private for a minute and we'll get started," and sinking into a trance like Naruto had in Tsunade's office. Neji meanwhile had gone to the phone and called Tsunade and was trying to explain what was going on to her.

Belldandy soon came out of her trance and said, "Everyone but Naruto please leave the room to give me space to work." After everyone had left, Belldandy had Naruto make his wish. "I wish Kyuubi-oka-san was restored to a physical body with an appropriate amount of chakra and her kitsune abilities while I keep most of her chakra inside me so Akatsuki can't get it!" said Naruto. Tsunade and Jiraiya had arrived by this time and watched through the doorway as charka swirled out of the seal on Naruto's stomach to form a large orb in midair. The orb slowly shifted into a large fox body with nine tails and finally solidified in that form with eyes closed. A bright white orb then exited Naruto's body and sank into the fox's, who suddenly sprang to life and opened her eyes. Kyuubi turned her head to get used to her surroundings before morphing to her human form. The kitsune woman then ran up to Naruto and hugged him while whispering "Thank you Naruto, you are truly my son in spirit if not by blood." Hinata and the others smiled as they watched the two hug, then Tsunade cleared her throat. "Lets see about freeing this young kit from the curse she is under, shall we?" said the Hokage. Belldandy explained that the machine to bring them back to their world would be completed in about a month, so until then they should find the others and have fun. The goddess then used the mirror to return to the temple and inform the anxious parents that all the lost ones were in the Naruto world, but they had to find Rin, Shippo, Akira, and Ryeka.

After an hour of examining the curse, which turned out to be a complex jutsu, the two senin were ready to take a break. Kimiko and her friends had spent the hour filling in the details of the story Naruto had told Neji and Hinata, elaborating where he had skipped details and adding things he forgot. Neji and Hinata both managed to accept their story, but something had been bothering Naruto for a while. "Anou Hinata-chan, why were you running out of your home crying earlier?" Hinata's formerly happy face was replaced by a sad soft frown as she sniffed and tears threatened to spill out of her eyes. Tsunade had heard Naruto's question and turned to observe Hinata's reaction. "My father called me into his office to discuss something with him. I had no idea what he wanted, since I've been training under Tsunade-sama to be a medic nin for the past year my skills and strength have improved. Father then told me he had arranged a marriage for me to the most powerful clan in the Hidden Stone village. He said that since I have failed to become a Chunin in the past three years all I was good for was securing an alliance for Konoha through this marriage!" said Hinata before she buried her face in her hands sobbing. Miyuki, Kimiko, and Kyuubi all crowded around the girl to offer comfort. Neji, who had no knowledge of this act, Naruto, and Hiryuu were all upset. Strangely, Naruto felt angry at the thought of another guy being close to Hinata.

Tsunade meanwhile, was shaking with rage. "That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. We need you here in Konoha. Your Byakugan makes you one of our best medical nin I've ever seen. Besides, the Chunin exam is in three months. He can't deny you the chance to take the exam. I know the first two times you took the exam after Naruto left on his training trip your heart gave out on you. Then in the next three you made it to the third part and faced off against one of the strongest genin in the exam. You decided to train under me as a medic nin instead of taking the last exam, and I know you'll make Chunin this time!" Jiraiya was scowling and said, "I'll train her in ninjutsu and taijutsu, that'll make sure she becomes a Chunin!" "But what team will I be on? All of this year's graduates have their teams and none of them are ready to participate in the exam!" asked Hinata. Naruto raised his hand and asked, "What is the status of the Rookie Nine?" referring to the group of Genin who all participated in his first Chunin Exam. Tsunade sighed and said, "All of them except for you and Hinata are now Chunin, so unless we can find you a third team mate, the two of you will have to wait till the next one. Kyuubi glanced at the silently sleeping Akemi and asked, "If we could awaken Akemi, could she take the open spot? She knows the basic jutsu required to graduate as well as how to use her kitsune magic." Tsunade considered the possibility, then grinned. "That would work, we'll just need to send them on the necessary missions. Lets get to work and we'll try to break this curse while you kids all go have fun. I'm sure that Teuchi will be glad to see his favorite customer after three years!" Naruto grinned and led the whole group to the Ichiraku ramen stand.

**Well, that is all for now. This chapter was 12 whole pages and a little bit of the 13 page in word, the other chapters should be of similar length. I have got some great ideas for future battles and allready have the next chapter typed up. I'll upload it this Saturday. The fourth chapter is allready in the works and should be done by the end of the week.  
**


	3. Gathering of Family and Friends

**Roar of the Dragon: Well, here's chapter three of Trials of Kimiko. I don't seem to be getting many reviews for this story yet, hopefully that will change soon. Click the reviews for this story and find the one I submitted for chapter 2 of this fic to find the links I tried to post two times before. Just one typo, for the Tenchi and Ranma sites, instead of **AnimeInto(dot)org **it should be** AnimeInfo(dot)org.

_Review responses_

_Crazyhanyoued: The others will be found soon. As for the groups they are in, think of them as a hint towards future pairing either after the group returns to their world or during their stay in the Naruto world._

_xAkix: Oops, don't want to kill off one of my favorite readers. Dragon Man casts True Resurrection on xAkix Now that you're revived, I'll answer your question. The little power hungry beep Sasuke is alive and working for Orochimaru._

_Story Weaver1: I'm going for massive mother son scenes between Naruto and Kyuubi to make up for all the times Naruto needed a parent in the past and he didn't have one. I'm glad I got you hooked on Naruto, now if only it would be released here in the US I'd be happy._

**AN: I apologize in advance for any mistakes I make regarding the Japanese language and culture.**

"Oi, Teuchi-san, Ayame-chan! I'm back and ready to make up for the last three years of not being here!" exclaimed Naruto as he entered the ramen stand. The cook and his daughter looked up at the sound of a longed for voice and smiled. "Oi genki, what took you so long? We've been waiting ever since you yelled out that you were back!" said Teuchi as he grabbed the extra-extra large bowl he had bought just for this occasion. Naruto licked his lips as he sat down at the counter and said, "Sorry, had to take care of some family business first. I'm paying for my friends as well, Gama-chan needs to go on a diet!" Ayame ruffled Naruto's hair as she placed the gigantic bowl full of miso ramen in front of the blond shinobi and said, "Well, give me your orders and we'll fill 'em up as quick as we can!" Miyuki and Hinata ordered the shrimp ramen, Hiryuu had chicken, while Neji chose beef. Kimiko grinned at Teuchi and said, "One large bowl of each flavor please!" Teuchi glanced at his daughter and said, "Looks like you got competition as the champion ramen eater in this village Naruto!" Kimiko quickly devoured each bowl as it was placed in front of her and her friends and the two Hyuga watched in awe as the stack of bowls beside the hanyou girl grew steadily. Naruto in the meantime had eaten ten of his extra-extra large bowl and was still going strong.

"I thought that blond head looked familiar! What are you doing back here Naruto?" yelled a familiar voice. Naruto turned around and grinned at a Chunin with a large white dog by his side as Teuchi started refilling his bowl. "Hi Kiba, Akamaru, I just got back this afternoon and I've been busy. Sit down and when I'm done I'll tell everyone about my adventures over the past three years, as well as some important stuff." Kiba sat down in one of the booths and was quickly joined by the rest of the Rookie Nine and Neji's team. Everyone stared at the large stack of bowls beside Kimiko, who had finally stopped eating after trying every flavor the stand had three times. Naruto finished his twentieth bowl and let out a small burp. "Excuse me, well, looks like everyone is here, so I'll start my story." Naruto proceeded to tell them of the many sights he had seen throughout the Shinobi lands during his travels with Jiraiya. By the time he had finished, it was growing dark and Teuchi had to ask them to leave so he could close up the stand for the night. Naruto invited everyone to his house so they could get to know Kimiko, Hiryuu, and Miyuki better. A light drizzle caught the large group as they reached the Uzumaki mansion, revealing Miyuki's curse and causing Kiba to have to restrain Akamaru from lunging for the girl. Kimiko started explaining as they entered the house, only to be interrupted by Tsunade yelling "THAT'S IT!" A bright flash of light followed the exclamation and blinded everyone. Once they could see they ran upstairs to find Kyuubi nuzzling Akemi in their fox forms.

When Tsunade saw all of Naruto's friends gathered in the door way, she quickly shooed them into the large living room of the house where she explained the true events behind Kyuubi's attack fifth teen years ago, as well as the facts of Naruto's parents. As the Hokage finished speaking, Kyuubi slowly came downstairs in her human form with Akemi following her. Akemi had her mother's bright red hair, with sparkling blue eyes, orange ears and four tails, and was wearing a green Chinese shirt with grey mandarin pants. All the shinobi except Hinata, Neji, and Naruto were a little scared at first to be face to face with the Kyuubi that their parents told scary stories of to frighten them into staying in bed. However, the sight of Naruto running up to hug Kyuubi calmed them down slightly. Akemi nervously bowed at the bottom of the stairs. "Ohayou minna-san, I am Akemi no Kitsune," said the kitsune girl. Naruto shook his head and said, "Gomen, but I think you missed something Akemi-chan. I call your mother Oka-san because she has been watching over me my whole life and filled the void left when my own mother died shortly after my birth. Thus as the head of the Uzumaki clan, I officially declare that both of you are now part of the clan!" Kyuubi gasped, she had no idea Naruto would go to such lengths because of their bond. Tsunade on the other hand, started laughing so hard she had to lean against the wall to keep from falling over. "I hadn't thought about that, but Naruto is right, he is the current head of his clan since he is the only Uzumaki," said Jiraiya. Tsunade managed to stop her laughter and grinned at Naruto. "Good choice little brother, but I think the name Kyuubi Uzumaki would be a bad idea. Lets shorten it to Kyu Uzumaki. I'll send over the papers that will finalize everything for you to sign tomorrow. As the Hokage of Konoha I officially welcome the new Uzumaki members to their new home!" Everyone clapped, while Akemi hugged Naruto and her mother.

(---------)

Early the next morning, Tsunade called a meeting of the clan heads of Konoha and showed them the scrolls that Yondaime had left Naruto and explained the use of a secret technique to return Kyuubi to a physical body with only a portion of her former strength. Many of the clan heads expressed disbelief, but Hiashi Hyuga was vehemently opposed to the resurrection of the Uzumaki clan. "We can't allow that ignorant brat to be in such an important position of authority! By Konoha law, a clan head must be at least twenty years of age to vote on this council!" Tsunade smiled sweetly, she had been expecting Hiashi to complain about such a thing, and said, "I've already taken care of that. Jiraiya, would you show in the new clan head?" The toad senin walked out the door of the meeting hall and soon returned leading the newly appointed Kyu Uzumaki into the room. Kiba's mother took one sniff and started laughing merrily. "Hokage-sama, you have a sharp mind. She's perfect for the job!" said the only female clan head. "What is the meaning of this? Isn't the Kyuubi brat the supposed clan head?" demanded Hiashi. Kyuubi suddenly blurred and appeared next to Hiashi, her fox features clearly visible to all in the room as she held her claws in front of Hiashi's face. "You are lucky I have given my solemn oath to Tsunade-sama to never kill a resident of Konoha again. That _brat_, as you called him, happens to be my adopted kit and the unsung hero of this village," said the kitsune woman angrily. Tsunade scowled at Hiashi and rapped on the table for silence. "As some of you may have figured out, this is Kyuubi. However, because of the scrolls before you and the testimony of the kit mentioned in the second one, I have allowed Naruto's request to let her kit Akemi and her join the Uzumaki clan. Uzumaki Kyu, as she will henceforth be known, will act as the Uzumaki representative to this council until Naruto has developed the maturity and experience required to take the position." Hiashi's mouth was open like a fish's but no sound came out. The other clan heads seemed to be at least considering the idea, then turned their attention to Tsunade as she cleared her throat. "Hiashi, I learned yesterday that you plan to engage Hinata to a member of Hidden Stone." Hiashi's eyes narrowed, but he simply nodded. Tsunade's facial expression changed from pleasant to outrage in a second. "And just who gave you the authority to attempt to make an alliance without consulting me first? The Hyuga clan might be the mightiest in Konoha but you have gone to far!" exclaimed Tsunade. The other clan heads scowled as Tsunade finished speaking. They were used to Hiashi lording it over them that his clan was the strongest, but to have him challenge to Hokage's power so recklessly was disturbing. "Hiashi, wasn't there an agreement between Yondaime and you that your clans would be joined together at some point in the next generation?" asked Shino's father. Hiashi's face paled considerably as Tsunade's face assumed the look of a predator that knew its prey was helpless, defenseless, and cornered. "Since Naruto is the only son of Yondaime, I believe that leaves Hinata as the only possibility to uphold the agreement, since Hinabi is too young to marry. Since three years have passed since they last met, I'm going to ask Hinata to live in the Uzumaki estate so she can get to know her future family better. Uzumaki-san, will you inform your son and Hinata-chan of these developments?" asked Tsunade. Kyuubi smiled and nodded, noticing that most of the clan heads shared looks of approval. Their children had obviously mentioned Hinata's crush on Naruto in the past and they knew the boy needed someone besides a family member or surrogate parent to show him love. Kyuubi imagined Naruto and Hinata's reaction to this news and couldn't stop grinning.

(---------)

(At Team 7's old training field)  
"I have to admit that I'm impressed Hinata-chan," said Naruto as he whipped sweat off his forehead. Naruto had been sparing with Hinata and Akemi while Jiraiya was attending the clan head meeting and had just stopped for a break. "You've really improved in the last three years. Your speed is amazing and if I couldn't use Oka-san's chakra to reopen my Tsubos you would have had me defenseless. Akemi-ne-chan, you are also very skilled. Your fox fire is really tricky and your taijutsu is on par with Hinata's," Naruto continued. Akemi grinned and tightened her Konoha Hitai-ate around her forehead before using a tail to brush off her sweat. "Thanks, I'm glad that my fifth teen year nap didn't cause my skills to degrade. Hinata-chan, your Kaiten was a huge surprise, I had no idea you could emit chakra like that!" Hinata blushed and tapped her fingers together as she said, "Neji-ni-san trained me for a year after you left Naruto-kun. After that year of training I was able to defeat Hanabi-chan and reclaim the title of the Heiress of the Hyuga clan." Naruto smiled at Hinata, causing her blush to deepen, before saying, "Anything else interesting happen while I was gone?" "Umm, Gaara-san and his siblings made Chunin also, they come by to visit during each Chunin exam here and occasionally for different festivals. Hanabi enrolled in the Academy and became the number one rookie of her year and Konohamaru-kun's rival. The two of them are always trying to one-up each other in everything from basic jutsu to chakra control to pranks. They're really quite cute." "Does Konohamaru still suck at stealth?" asked Naruto. "Well, he stopped using his fake rock box, but now he uses Henge to disguise himself. He has gotten so good that he has actually gotten Hanabi-chan to walk right by him when he looks like a garbage can and allow him to scare her half to death. She then proceeds to beat him up and yell at him never to do that again," replied Hinata. 

Akemi glanced up as she felt the breeze shift towards them from Konoha and grinned. "Oka-san and Jiraiya-sensei are coming, the meeting must be over!" she said. Hinata grinned at the fox girl, after only a short time of knowing each other they were already fast friends and Akemi was considering having the other kunoichi over for a sleepover. Miyuki and Kimiko were out looking for jobs and Akemi hopped they could find their friends soon. As Jiraiya and Kyuubi entered the training grounds Naruto sank down to the ground Indian style and asked, "How did the meeting go?" Jiraiya grinned and said, "A majority of the clan heads approved the revival of your clan and the adoption of your mother and sister!" Naruto started jumping up and down while hugging Akemi while Hinata watched them with a smile on her face. Kyuubi grinned and said, "That isn't all. Hinata, your engagement is now off. Amburne-san recalled an agreement between Yondaime and your father that stated that two of their children would get married to unite both your clans. Since Naruto is the only child of Yondaime and your sister is too young to be a good match, you and Naruto are officially engaged!" Naruto spun around to stare at his mother and sensei in shock, then promptly fainted while Hinata looked like her dreams had come true. "You're moving in with us this afternoon, Tsunade-sama decided you should get to know Naruto better by living with us," said Kyuubi. Akemi waved her hand in front of her brother's face and said, "He's out cold. Come on Hinata, there's only one thing that will wake him up now!" said the fox girl as she gestured for her future sister-in-law to take one side of Naruto.

(Ichiraku ramen stand)  
Miyuki placed a bowl of ramen on the counter with a smiled and said, "Enjoy your meal!" to the customer. Teuchi had hired the martial artist to help Ayame with serving dishes. The stand's popularity had increased over the last three years, leading to an almost constant stream of customers. Ayame smiled as she picked up empty bowls and collected pay, she had been asking Teuchi to hire another waitress for several months to help ease her load and Miyuki couldn't have arrived at a better time. Hiryuu had stopped by for lunch earlier, saying Tsunade had given him a job restoring and maintaining a small shrine in the village. Kimiko was the only one who didn't seem to have a job yet, since Miyuki had seen the hanyou girl pass by several times. Said hanyou suddenly slid on to an empty seat and grinned. "I got a job helping Iruka-sensei at the academy! I'm helping him by grading papers and running errands, leaving him free to teach the class!" Miyuki smiled and placed a bowl of beef ramen in front of her friend. "This bowl is on the house! Hiryuu got a job working at a shrine, so I think we won't have to worry about money while we're here," she said. Kimiko grinned before starting to gulp down her ramen. Her nose suddenly twitched as she smelled Naruto, Akemi, and Hinata approaching the stand. "Oi, incoming Naruto at six 'o clock!" exclaimed the hanyou girl. 

Hinata and Akemi entered the stand supporting a passed out Naruto between them. "What happened to him?" asked Ayame. "He just found out that Hinata's father had an agreement with his father that their clans would be joined one day. Hinata is now engaged to marry Naruto in a year!" said Akemi, while Hinata blushed. The two girls sat Naruto down on one of the stools and Miyuki placed a bowl of miso ramen in front of the blond. Naruto's nose twitched and he promptly planted his face in the bowl and started inhaling the contents. All of the other occupants of the stand stared at Naruto as he emptied the bowl and raised his head. Naruto was now awake and coherent, so Hinata timidly decided to ask him a question. "Anou, Naruto-kun? I was wondering how you felt about this?" Naruto wiped his face off with a napkin before replying. "I really don't know. I never really thought about getting married after I realized I didn't have any chance at convincing a family to let their daughter marry the 'Kyuubi brat'. That's one reason I chased after Sakura-chan so much. I was hoping some of the other girls would realize I was a nice guy and maybe start to like me. But that didn't work." Hinata gulped, her heart was pounding so much she swore she could hear the blood rushing through her face. "Th…that's not t…true, N…na…ruto-kun! You always had o…one g…girl who ad…admired you!" said the kunoichi with a trace of her old stutter. Naruto's head snapped up to stare at Hinata in surprise. "Really?" Hinata trembled slightly but gathered her courage. ::If I don't tell him that I love him now he might feel unhappy that we were forced into this engagement:: she thought before swallowing the lump that threatened to choke her. "Actually, she loved you. She was always watching you and admired your strength, determination, and refusal to give up or take back your words. Your nindo so inspired her that in fact she made it her ninja way." Naruto started to think and slowly the words Hinata had said during her fight with Neji came back to him. "You mean it's…" he trailed off. Hinata nodded, her face once again as red as a tomato. "I've loved you since before our first Chunin exam and this agreement between our fathers is like a dream come true for me!" Naruto suddenly slammed his head onto the counter and exclaimed, "I am such an idiot! Here I was chasing after Sakura all those years when you were to shy to admit your feelings! I must have hurt you so much with my constant praise of Sakura, didn't I?" Hinata nodded slightly, being careful to focus on a small bit of spilled broth in front of her. Naruto suddenly leaned over and kissed Hinata on the cheek. Both genin had flaming red cheeks when Naruto leaned back. Hinata sat there for a second as her brain processed the moment and then she had jumped into Naruto's lap and locked her lips onto his. Akemi, Miyuki, and Kimiko all cheered as the two kissed, while Ayame was drying her eyes on a napkin. Teuchi whistled at the new couple's passionate kiss, deciding on the spot to give both of them free ramen on the anniversary of this day each year.

A sudden gust of wind seemed to enter the stand and a loud voice exclaimed, "Naruto-kun, I challenge you to a ……… OH NARUTO-KUN, THE FIREY PASSION OF YOUTH HAS FINALLY LED YOU TO THE ONE WOMAN MEANT FOR YOU!" Naruto and Hinata reluctantly stopped kissing and turned to see Lee standing in the entrance to the stand. After wrapping his arms around Hinata to hold her in his lap, Naruto grinned at the green clad Chunin and asked, "What were you saying Lee, something about a challenge?" Lee smiled and struck his signature thumbs up pose complete with sparkling teeth. "Naruto-kun, let us test the strength of our youthful manliness against each other!" Naruto blinked and stared at Lee until Kimiko said, "In other words, he wants to fight with you Naruto." Naruto grinned and said, "Sure Fuzzy-brows, but I should warn you that I feel like I could take on Gaara with my bare fists and win!" Naruto set Hinata on her feet and kissed her cheek before leading Lee to his team's training ground. Along the way their friends, who had heard Lee yelling something about Naruto and fiery passion and figured out the two were going to fight, showed up and joined them. Ino noticed Hinata's slightly flushed face and soon had the whole story of the engagement from the Hyuga heiress. The girls all started making suggestions to Hinata and only stopped when Akemi declared a sleepover was in order at the Uzumaki house during the first opportunity. By then they had reached the training ground and the spectators jumped to the trees to give the combatants more room. Tsunade, Jiraiya, Gai, and the other sensei had also shown up with Kyuubi.

"Oi Lee, lets keep this to pure Taijutsu! I don't want to show all my new jutsu that Ero-senin," here Naruto had to dodge a kunai thrown by Jiraiya, "has taught me yet!" Lee nodded and adopted his usual Iron Fist stance. Naruto also shifted into a stance, but not one any of the Konoha nins had seen before, even Gai. "What is that stance that Naruto is using?" asked the taijutsu master. Kyuubi and Jiraiya both grinned and the senin said, "That is the Kitsune Ken stance that Kyuubi-san taught Naruto two years ago." Kyuubi nodded and continued the explanation. "This stance is mostly used by kitsune like me in human form. As you might know, kitsune can use their tails to fight as well as their arms and legs. This stance allows a kitsune to use their tails, claws, and fangs to maximum effect." "But Naruto doesn't have tails, claws, or fangs," said a puzzled Gai. "Oh really? Take another look," said Jiraiya. Gai looked at Naruto and was surprised to see nine fox tails sprouting from a concealed hole in his shorts while his nails had become claws. Naruto's canines had also grown longer. The whole look reminded Sakura of when Naruto thought Sasuke had been killed by Haku. Neji on the other hand was remembering his fight with Naruto in the Chunin Exam.

"Umm, forgive my bluntness Naruto-kun but will you actually bite me?" asked Lee. Naruto grinned and shook his head. "Nah, I only use the fangs for the enemies I want to kill. Besides, Kiba has sharp canines and I never got bit by him in our fight. Don't worry, I've had all my shots," said Naruto, earning a chuckle from all the spectators. Both Lee and Naruto seemed to tense for a minute, then they both dashed forward and started exchanging kicks and punches. After a full minute of this, Lee and Naruto separated and grinned at each other. "Nice warm-up, now lets get down to business," said Naruto. Lee nodded and pulled off his Chunin vest to toss it aside. Smoke rose from the place the vest hit the ground, revealing a deep crater. Lee then undid his ankle weights with similar results. Naruto grinned and waited for Lee to make the first move. Lee seemed to disappear before appearing behind Naruto and delivering a roundhouse kick to his head, only to find one of Naruto's fox tails blocking the blow. Lee immediately aimed a punch at Naruto's back, only to get grabbed by all nine tails and lightly tossed over Naruto. The taijutsu expert landed on his feet facing Naruto and grinned. "Very nice Naruto-kun. Now I'll get serious!" said Lee before he started rapidly attacking Naruto from all sides with his incredible speed. Naruto countered each blow, then swept Lee's feet out from under him. Naruto's fist seemed to become covered in flame as he punched Lee, only to hit the ground as Lee rolled to the side of the blow. Lee attacked again, opting to use his standard move. "Konoha senpu!" yelled Lee as he kicked Naruto in the chin and up into the air. Naruto grinned as he shot up into the air and felt Lee appear behind him. "Good shot, but I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to let you use Lotus on me," said Naruto before he suddenly spun around in mid air with his feet surrounded by flames. "Okibi Senpuuken!" yelled Naruto as he kicked Lee in the chest. Lee hit the ground hard, while Naruto seemed to drift down and landed lightly on his feet. The smoke from Lee's landing blew away, revealing a smiling Lee as he lay on the ground. "That was an excellent fight, Naruto-kun, next time fight me without the weights on," said Lee before he slipped into the world of dreams with his smile still on his face after seeing Naruto nod.

Tsunade jumped from the trees and examined Lee. She was surprised to see that Lee would be fine after a few hours of rest. "I'm impressed Naruto, you barely seemed to have hurt him at all," she said. Naruto rubbed the back of his head as he regained his normal appearance. "Well, I didn't want to kill him, plus he seems to have the heal gate active full time now," Tsunade and Gai's eyes widened at this, while Neji examined Lee's chakra system and saw Naruto was correct. "But how?" exclaimed Gai. "Apparently the heal gate is the easiest to open and causes the least damage to Lee," said Neji. "I see what looks like an unusually large path around the gate. I can only assume Lee's body adapted to the Heal gate and he doesn't realize he is using it, since the gate hasn't closed even though he is unconscious." Gai was amazed and tears poured down his face as he wailed, "OH LEE, THE BRIGHT FIRE OF YOUR YOUTHFUL SPIRIT HAS ALLOWED YOU THE STRENGTH TO SURVIVE WHERE EVEN I WOULD FAIL AND SERVES AS A BEACON OF THE POWER OF YOUTH TO THE OTHERS!" Everyone avoided looking at Gai as he ranted and raved about youth power until Tsunade knocked him out to shut him up. All the other ninja were amazed at Naruto's new speed and power, while Jiraiya and Kyuubi shared looks of pride at their student's achievements. Hinata had joined Neji in examining Lee and now turned her gaze on Naruto.

"That was amazing Naruto-kun!" said Hinata with a smile. Naruto grinned and rubbed the back of his head as he said, "Yeah, I guess I am!" Hinata just shook her head at Naruto's remark. "Sorry to interrupt, but I have a mission for your team," said Tsunade. Naruto glanced at the Hokage and was rewarded with a small grin. "It is a C mission, travel to the Wave Country and escort two travelers back here." Naruto's grin widened as he thought of returning to the sight of his first real battle and seeing the bridge that bore his name. "You leave tomorrow at nine, so get a good night's rest!" said Tsunade. Naruto grinned and said, "Sugoi, it will be great to see everyone again!" No one noticed the looks exchanged by Jiraiya and Tsunade except Hinata. The Hyuga Heiress couldn't help but feel there was something more to this mission then they were being told. As the three genin walked towards the Uzumaki house to pack for the mission, Hinata voiced her concerns. "Naruto-kun, Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya-sensei seemed worried about something. Do you have any idea what it might be?" Naruto's happy grin faded and he sighed. "There is a criminal organization called Akatsuki whose goal is to obtain Oka-san's power. All their members are S-class missing nins. Orochimaru used to be one of them before he quit. The only other members I know about are Uchiha Itachi, Sasuke's older brother who slaughtered his whole clan, and Hoshigake Kisame, a shark man missing nin from hidden mist who uses a strange sword called SameHade to suck his opponent's chakra before he slices them to pieces. They attacked us on our return to Konoha but were driven off with Kimiko-chan, Miyuki-chan, and Hiryuu-san's help. There is a good chance they'll attack us either on the way to or from the Wave Country." Both girls cheerful moods were dampened by this, but they resolved to make the most of the evening by moving Hinata's things to the Uzumaki house and having a nice dinner that Hinata made with Kyuubi's help.

(---------)

(Konoha gates, next morning)  
"See you soon! I'll make sure to have a bowl of miso ramen waiting for you when you get back!" yelled Miyuki as the team set out. Everyone had shown up to see their friends off. Kyuubi was making sure Akemi, Naruto, and Hinata had all the gear and supplies they would need, causing Akemi to exclaim, "Oka-san, I'm not one hundred years old any more! I can pack for myself!" Everyone laughed as Kyuubi scowled and grabbed her kit's ear. "I've been worrying about where you were for the past fifth teen years! I think I have a right to be overprotective of you now that I finally have you back!" "Itai! Stop it Oka-san! I'll stop complaining!" yelped Akemi as she struggled to be released from Kyuubi's grip. Kyuubi finally let Akemi go, after which the terrified kitsune ran and hid behind Naruto. "Save me Naruto-ni-san!" she whined. Naruto rolled his eyes and sighed, resigning himself to playing the protective older brother. He had seen other older kids defend their siblings from bullies at the playground when he longingly watched the kids playing and wished to join them in their fun. Naruto would have given anything to have an older brother to protect him from the villagers, so how could he deny someone else that gift? "Oka-san, Akemi-chan is right, we really need to get going. Even at my best speed it would take me a day to get to the Wave Country and it will probably take us at least three days depending on how many times Ero-senin tries to slip away to do his 'research'. If we want to get there in time we need to leave now!" Kyuubi sighed and nodded. "Just remember to send up a flare if you're in sight of Konoha and need help," she said before kissing all three of the genin goodbye. "What, no kiss for me?" asked Jiraiya with a perverted grin. WHAM! POW! SMACK! Jiraiya was kicked in the shin by Naruto, punched in the gut by Akemi, and smacked by Kyuubi. The three genin set off with their sensei limping behind them. **(AN: I'll just skip to where they have reached the Wave Country)**

(---------)

(Wave Country, Great Naruto Bridge)  
Naruto grinned with understandable pride as he surveyed the bridge that bore his name and was the sight of his declaration to create and follow his own Nindo, or ninja way. "The Great Naruto Bridge… boy this place sure brings back memories," said Naruto with a smile as he led the group across the bridge. "What kind of memories Naruto-kun?" asked Hinata. "This is where I decided to make and follow my own Nindo. I came to that decision after facing off against Zabuza and Haku, two missing nin from Hidden Mist. Haku taught me that true strength comes from having some on precious to you to protect, while Zabuza showed me the kind of ninja I wouldn't want to become. I also learned to climb trees with out my hands here. I remember the first night Sasuke-teme and I both puked up everything we ate and Sakura-chan yelled at us and called us idiots. This was also the first place I tapped into Oka-san's chakra after I thought Sasuke-teme was dead. I also met people who respected me and acknowledged me. In fact, the mission scroll said the clients are waiting at their house. You guys will like Tazuna-san, Tsunami -san, and Inari. Before we leave I'll show you the trees we climbed and the graves of Zabuza and Haku," said Naruto. As the group reached the Wave Country side of the bridge, an old man sitting on a bench stood up and grinned widely at the Konoha nins. "Hey Naruto, you've grown since we last saw you!" yelled the man. Naruto grinned back and said, "And you're still the same old man who called me a midget and said he wouldn't acknowledge me even if I became Hokage Tazuna!" The bridge builder laughed and led the way to his home saying, "The clients are eager to go, they say they got separated from their friends and found the bridge. They crossed over and stayed here until now so they could have a guide through the forests to Konoha." Naruto blinked, something about the story seemed very familiar. 

"Oi, Akira-san, Ryeka-chan! Your escort has arrived!" yelled Inari from the front yard as he saw his grandfather approaching with Naruto and his team. "Naruto-ni-san! I'm so happy to see you!" yelled the little boy as he ran and tackled Naruto, who grinned and slung the boy over his shoulder while ignoring the small fists pounding on his back. "It's good to see you to Inari, but I want to get back to Konoha so I don't have much time. I want to meet the clients and show my friends a few sights from my last visit here before we leave!" said Naruto. Inari pouted, but allowed Naruto to set him down outside before the blond ninja entered the house. He found a cyan haired girl with golden eyes helping Tsunami prepare some bento boxes while a black haired boy with a pigtail seemed to be practicing some form of Taijutsu. All three of them looked up as Naruto and the rest of the team entered. "So which of you are the clients?" asked Jiraiya with a perverted grin at the two females in the room. "Oh Kami-sama, not the pervert hermit! Why couldn't it have been Kakashi or one of the other Jounin?" groaned the girl. Naruto suddenly realized why the client's story seemed so familiar. "Excuse me, are you two by any chance friends of Kimiko Taisho?" he asked. Both teens stared at him with surprise before nodding. Hinata grinned and said, "Well you're in luck, Kimiko-chan, Hiryuu-san, and Miyuki-chan are all in Konoha and will be happy to see you!" Naruto noticed how both teens seemed to recognize him and Hinata, but not Akemi. "Allow me to introduce my adopted sister Akemi Uzumaki, and my fiancée Hinata Hyuga," said the boy as he gestured to each girl as he named him. "I'll explain everything in a more private place, could you please bring your things and we'll be on our way?" asked Naruto. Both Akira and Ryeka nodded and grabbed backpacks they had obtained by doing odd jobs around the town to earn money. Ren-oh-ki was sleeping inside Ryeka's backpack, while Akira had some supplies and a tent. Naruto led the way out of the house and to the graves of Zabuza and Haku.

(---------)

(The Graves)  
"And that is what has changed from the story line you know as far as Kimiko-chan can tell," said Hinata as she finished explaining about Akemi, Kyuubi, and the Uzumaki clan. Ryeka and Akira had listened wide eyed and had congratulated Hinata on finally landing her long time crush. The group of six sat near the graves, which Naruto had placed fresh flowers on. Ryeka walked over to look at Zabuza's sword, only to feel a chill go down her back. "Guys, something weird is going on," she said. Everyone looked up as a form rose out of the grave. The ghost of Zabuza stared at all of them before fixing his gaze on Naruto. "Kid, I see you've grown stronger since I left this world. Several of the arrivals in hell have been talking about your skills and strength." Naruto's face had paled as the ghost spoke, and he barely squeaked out, "How are you here?" Ryeka nervously raised her hand. "I think it is my fault. My mother has the ability to summon nature spirits to help her in battle, but I never knew I had this power or it could raise human spirits from the grave!" Zabuza nodded and said, "Indeed, your powers are untrained and I could have resisted if I didn't want to talk to Naruto. Naruto, I have seen much and your path holds many dangers to you and your friends. Take my sword and use it to make your dreams come true!" Zabuza started to fade away as he finished speaking, leaving a stunned group behind. Naruto cautiously approached the sword and grasped it by the hilt and tugged. The sword easily slid free of the earth and shone in the afternoon sun. "Not even a scratch or bit of rust after three years," whispered Naruto before pulling a hair from his head. The edge of the blade easily split the hair in half, some how retaining the sharpness of a well tended weapon. Naruto swung the sword up into the air and held it with just one hand. "I swear on this blade that I shall only use it to defend my precious people, family, and friends!" exclaimed Naruto. 

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(Two days later in the Forest, in sight of Konoha)  
"Finally, we're almost back!" said Akemi as she gazed at the distant hidden village. Jiraiya nodded, absently doodling something in his note book. A beam of red light suddenly burned a hole through the book and in particular the picture Jiraiya was drawing. The pervert senin jumped up and glared at Ryeka, who was hovering in mid-air with one hand aimed at him. "I don't appreciate having my body be the object of a pervert's lust!" growled the girl. Jiraiya then received a hit on the head from Akemi and Naruto right then. "Baka Ero-senin, you're annoying the clients! If you do that they don't pay us as much and we need all the money we can get to maintain the house. I had a hard enough time paying the rent on my old apartment, now I have to make sure there is enough to pay for a huge mansion!" yelled the boy. Hinata blushed slightly and said, "Anou, even though fat… Hiashi-san doesn't approve, I am now living with you Naruto-kun. I still have access to my personal account, which should have more than enough to provide for us for a year." Naruto shook his head, "Gomen Hinata-chan, but until we get married I'm not letting you pay for the upkeep of the house except in an emergency. Groceries are okay, but not the utilities or rent." Akemi nodded her agreement, but grinned at the fact that Hinata had stopped calling Hiashi her father after Kyuubi told of his reaction to Tsunade's announcements at the clan head meeting. The whole group watched in amusement as Naruto started chasing Jiraiya with Zabuza's giant sword yelling about slicing off something and eliminating his perverted habits. 

The whole group suddenly found themselves unable to move their feet as a seal appeared in the ground. "What the hell? Where did this come from?" yelled Akira as he struggled to lift his feet and found it impossible. Akemi started emitting a series of angry barks and growls that none of them but Naruto could understand. For all his strength, even Jiraiya couldn't cancel the seal. Hinata's eye veins bulged as she activated the Byakugan. "Four people approaching, one is carrying a giant sword. All of them have the same black cloak with red clouds on!" said the girl. Naruto scowled and said, "Akatsuki! Just great! If I can't move they know right where I am even if I use Kage Bushin no Jutsu. We're sitting ducks unless we can break the seal holding us here!" No one noticed Ryeka suddenly seem to double and one of the two sink into the ground. Naruto raised his hands and said, "Lets hope someone in Konoha is watching and sees this!" before shooting a gigantic burst of red flames up into the air. The flames formed the Uzumaki clan spiral. "Now we just have to hope help arrives soon," said the blond shinobi. The group suddenly became aware of four figures stepping out from the trees. Itachi, Kisame, and two new Akatsuki members approached the trapped group. One of the new comers had what looked like the leaves of a Venus Fly Trap sticking up from his coat and over his head. The other's hair looked showed he had been hit by many thunder jutsu. Jiraiya's eyes narrowed and he said,"Banrai formerly of Hidden Cloud and Ikushuka formerly of Hidden Grass. Looks like you had to bring in back up Itachi." The former Konoha nin smirked and said, "You should know that we will never give up on achieving our goal. The power of Kyuubi will be ours!"

**I'm working on the next chapter already, so I'm stopping this chapter here. Expect a six page, when typed in word, battle in the next chapter plus some new techniques at the very least. I'm working on translating and making a list of my original jutsu that I'll post in a review soon. Read and Review, since this dragon hoards his reviews.**


	4. 1st mission over, 2nd begins

**Roar of the Dragon: Sorry I couldn't update on Saturday like I planned, the site was down in the morning and I wanted to give it a day to make sure it wasn't going down again. Expect the next chapter in two weeks on Saturday from now on. I'm going back to school tomorrow, so I'll need the longer time between updates to keep up with writing while going to classes. I saw the first Inuyasha movie this weekend, so expect some new moves or ideas to pop up in later chapters.**

_Review Responses:_

_xAkix: You're going to hate where I cut this chapter off also, so I'm casting **True Ressurection** again with a stipulation that it activates after you read this chapter. Ramen flavored cake sounds kind of weird, but I bet Inuyasha and Naruto would love it. I think I'll have Ichiraku give Naruto a lifetime discount coupon for his wedding and do the catering for the reception. (Hint for possible Inu/Kag wedding in your story)_

_Story Weaver1: It wasn't really a contest per say, they were both just eating their fill. Kimiko wanted to learn what all the flavors were and tasted like while Naruto was making up for missing three years. Fluff is always good, I'll eventually get some fluff for the kids not native to the Naruto world._

_Ohiowriter: Glad you have some idea about what is going on, but it won't do you much good since I'm practically rewriting the laws of physics for the Naruto world._

_Fiery Demon Fox: Yay, you're back! Glad you like the longer chapters, I enjoy writing them! I know life can really make it hard to find decent writing time, but don't let it get you down!_

_Inuyasha Taiyoukai of the West: Yay, a new reviewer! Shippo and Rin are at the dating stage, Sesshomaru is making sure they're mature enough to finally mate._

_sand-nin-gurl: Thank you for your input, you can use my name for the Fourth. I've changed my formatting to your suggestions for the next chapter, but this one was completed before I received your review and is already 15 pages long in Word. I don't know how long uploaded stories can be so I don't want to make it any longer than it already is._

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Inuyasha, Ranma 1/2, Oh my Goddess!, or Tenchi Muyo. If I did I would have a PS2, a Game cube, and an X-box and never have to worry about putting in this disclaimer.**

"Man, things sure are slow without Naruto around," said Tenten as she ate lunch at Ichiraku with Neji, Kyuubi, Kimiko, and Hiryuu. Miyuki was helping other customers but chatted with her friends as often as she could. "I know, but I'm sure he'll have some exciting story to tell us when he gets back with Hinata-sama," said Neji with a soft smile. Kyuubi smiled at the two Chunin and asked, "When did you two start going out? Based on your attitude three years ago I never would have guessed you had a crush on Tenten." Neji proved that Hinata wasn't the only Hyuga whose face could imitate a tomato. Tenten stared at Neji in shock before grabbing her cell phone and using its camera to snap a picture of her boyfriend's face. Neji blinked as the flash hit his eyes and grabbed for the phone, only to find his hand on something a lot softer. Tenten's eyes narrowed as Neji snatched his hand back like it had been burned and dropped down to the ground to start bowing to her. "Ten-chan, I'm so sorry! I reacted out of instinct and didn't look at what I was grabbing!" exclaimed the Hyuga boy. Kyuubi, Hiryuu, Kimiko, and Miyuki were all laughing at the couple since they got to see the unshakeable Neji Hyuga begging for forgiveness. The peaceful afternoon was suddenly shattered by a loud explosion in the distance. All the customers turned and saw a large fiery version of the Uzumaki crest in mid air. Kyuubi's face paled and she said, "That's the signal flare Naruto used whenever he was unable to move from something I couldn't fix right off like a broken leg! To be using it so close to Konoha must mean Akatsuki found their group!" A tornado suddenly shot up into the air and caused Miyuki to gulp and yell, "Teuchi, I need to go now! That's one of my brother's attacks. He must have been one of the clients Naruto and the others were hired to escort!" Teuchi nodded and Miyuki grabbed a glass of water to transform into her catgirl form. Hiryuu started running towards Hokage tower yelling, "I'll inform Tsunade-sama, you guys go help them now!" Neji nodded and activated the Byakugan as he leapt to his feet. Tenten checked her kunai pouch and scrolls to make sure she had all the weapons she would need. Kimiko and Kyuubi both sniffed the air and tensed. "Itachi, Kisame, and two new ones. I smell Akira and Ryeka to, so now the only members of our group no accounted for are Shippo and Rin," said Kimiko. Kyuubi nodded and the four rescuers ran out of Konoha towards the battle. As soon as they were out of sight of the village walls Kyuubi skidded to a stop. "Stand back!" she said before transforming into her fox form and making sure she was big enough to carry all three of the teenagers. A tail grabbed each of her passengers and placed them on the kitsune's back and then they were off. Kyuubi darted through the trees much faster than any Jounin could and with a speed that caused Tenten to grab Neji with a death grip.

(---------)

Akemi growled and suddenly transformed to her fox form. "Don't even think of touching Oka-san!" she snarled. Kisame stared at Akemi for a second before bursting out in laughter. "And what will you do to stop us you mangy fleabag?" Akemi's eyes narrowed and she inhaled deeply. The kitsune then exhaled and a huge column of fire shot out of her mouth towards Kisame. The shark man barely managed to counter with a water dragon and save himself from becoming grilled shark. "Looks like we'll get two demons instead of one," said Banrai as electricity crackled around his hands. A sudden blast of red energy hit the edge of the seal just then, causing all the Akatsuki members to leap backwards. More energy blasts rained down, none of them ever hitting the trapped group. Naruto suddenly found he was able to move and saw a large chunk of the seal had been whipped out by the energy blasts. The blond shinobi charged towards Kisame and drew his new sword. The two giant blades clashed, neither shinobi able to get past the other's guard. Akemi transformed back to her human form and leapt at Itachi with Hinata. The two kunoichi knew they would only be able to keep the missing nin busy for a few minutes, but that those few minutes might be the difference between life and death. Banrai leapt towards Naruto's back, only to meet Akira's foot in mid-air and get sent crashing to the ground. The former Thunder nin glared at the boy and lunged after him. Akira avoided each of Banrai's attacks, maneuvering the missing nin in a spiral pattern. Finally, Akira had gotten Banrai to the center of the spiral and delivered an uppercut to the Akatsuki member as he yelled, "Hiryu Shoten Ha!" A large tornado shot up into the air and took Banrai with it. The thunder nin tried to call down lightning to strike Akira, only to feel a vicious two handed blow to the back of his head courtesy of Ryeka, who had phased through the ground to escape the seal and later destroy it from the air. Akira then fired off a ki blast with a yell of "Moko Takabisha!" and sent Banrai crashing into a tree, knocking it over and obscuring the missing nin in a cloud of dust. A yell of "Rakurai no Jutsu!" was followed by a bolt of lightning shooting out from the cloud to hit Akira, who threw up his arms to block the attack. The martial artist flew through the air and collapsed, fighting a lousing battle against falling unconscious. His last thoughts were, ::Sorry Ryeka, looks like you're on your own!::

Banrai stepped out of the dissipating smoke cloud from his landing with electricity crackling around his hands. "You brats are good, but now you'll get to meet my little pet." The cloud nin flashed through the seal for the summoning skill before raising his arms to the sky. "Kyuchiyose – Raicho!" yelled the man as lightning shot up into the sky from his hands. Storm clouds immediately formed in the sky and thunder shook the air. The clouds were suddenly parted by a giant bird that seemed to be made of electricity. "Say hello to Raicho the thunder bird!" said Banrai with a smile. Ryeka landed on the ground and saw Akira was out cold from Banrai's earlier attack, meaning she had to deal with the summoned beast and its summoner. Ryeka grinned and also made the seals for the summoning jutsu while communicating with Ren-oh-ki telepathically. "Kyuchiyose – Ren-oh-ki!" yelled the cyan haired girl as she slammed her hands into the ground. Ren-oh-ki immediately phased up through the ground to appear in front of her mistress. The little cabbit gave out a small "Miya" before looking at Banrai. The Cloud nin started laughing and said, "What kind of pathetic summons is that? That thing is only good as a snack for Raicho!" Ryeka grinned, a look on her face her father would have groaned at, the same look her mother had before she started blasting everything in sight. "Ren-oh-ki, transform!" yelled Ryeka. With a loud "Miyaaaaa!" the cabbit leapt into the air and transformed into her space ship form. Banrai stared at the space ship from his perch on Raicho's head as Ryeka floated up into the air and passed into her ship through the red crystal on the bottom. "Ren-oh-ki, lets fry some chicken!" yelled Ryeka as the cabbit ship's weapons were focused on the thunder bird. Raicho sensed the danger he was in and sent a flurry of electric feathers at Ren-oh-ki. The cabbit ship shot up into the air to avoid the attack and countered with a laser blast. Raicho dove towards the ground and then zoomed upwards to ram the ship. Ren-oh-ki yowled and Ryeka saw Banrai smirking. The cyan haired girl teleported outside and formed an energy sword in one hand. "No one, and I mean no one, hurts my friend and gets away with it!" she growled before swinging at the missing nin. Banrai countered with a electric sword in the shape of a lightning bolt. "It has been awhile since I had a good workout, lets dance!" said Ryeka as she broke the deadlock and kicked at Banrai. The man avoided the blow and countered with an electric uppercut to Ryeka's chin. The jolt to her system caused Ryeka to lose control of her flight and she plummeted towards the ground. Banrai smirked until he heard a loud angry roar and saw a giant red beam shooting towards him and Raicho from Ren-oh-ki. "Ah hell," he said just before the beam hit, whipping both of them from the face of the earth. Ren-oh-ki dove towards Ryeka, hoping she could catch her mistress before she hit the ground. As the ground grew closer, the transformed cabbit realized her tractor beam was damaged when Raicho rammed her and she had no way of catching Ryeka. Ren-oh-ki yowled in distress as she fought a hopeless battle to save her mistress.

Just then, Kyuubi burst through the trees and skidded to a stop to allow her passengers to jump off her back. A tail snapped out and grabbed Ryeka to keep her from hitting the ground. The kitsune set Ryeka down beside Akira as Ren-oh-ki transformed back to her cabbit form and landed beside the two. Ryeka smiled at her little friend before waving for Kyuubi to help the others and sinking into a deep sleep. Kimiko saw Hinata and Akemi working together to keep Itachi from attacking Naruto while he was engaged with Kisame and ran to help the two girls. Jiraiya was fighting with Ikushuka, using his fire jutsu to eliminate the razor sharp leaves the missing nin sent hurtling at him. Kyuubi transformed to her human form and leapt at Ikushuka's back, foxfire covering her hands and feet. The kitsune used her flaming claws to destroy a vine that had shot out from the bottom of Ikushuka's robe and was trying to entwine Jiraiya's ankles. Jiraiya glanced at Kyuubi in thanks then formed a series of seals. "Katon Karyuu Endan!" yelled the toad senin as he sent a dragon of flame at Ikushuka. The plant user countered with a yell of "Hakakuheki!" as the leaves on the ground around him swirled up around him to form a barrier against the flame dragon. Kyuubi sent a wave of blue flame at Ikushuka's back, only to see the jaws of the venus flytrap around his head close above him and allow him to sink into the ground. Jiraiya scowled and quickly performed his swamp of the underworld, hoping to trap the missing nin before he could slip away to attack someone from behind. Kyuubi was scanning the area for Ikushuka so intently that she didn't notice the plants sprouting around her feet. Kyuubi suddenly felt herself being jerked into the air. The kitsune had been grabbed by a large vine that was still growing and was strong enough to hold her in mid air where her claws couldn't reach the plant. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" yelled Jiraiya. A loud cloud of smoke announced the arrival of a man sized toad with a long sword. "Cut that vine and catch the woman!" said Jiraiya. The toad nodded and leapt into the air with its sword drawn. A quick slash and Kyuubi fell onto the toad's back. Kyuubi grunted from the impact before getting up and charging Ikushuka again.

Naruto, meanwhile, was fighting Kisame. The shark man's height gave him a slight advantage, but Naruto's speed allowed him to dodge many of the devastating slashes. "That sword may be good for sucking chakra, but all that power in your swings is useless if you can't hit your opponent," said Naruto with a smirk as the edge ofSameHade passed within a centimeter of the top of his hair. Kisame growled and a thick mist formed around the two. "Kirigakure no Jutsu, eh?" said Naruto as he closed his eyes. ::I remember this move, Zabuza used this during both his fights with Kakashi-sensei. Good thing I have enhanced hearing thanks to Oka-san.:: the blond shinobi said to himself. Naruto grabbed Zabuza's sword and prepared himself for Kisame's attack. The sharkman suddenly appeared behind Naruto, swingingSameHade at waist height. Naruto spun and brought Zabuza's up to block the blow before flipping over Kisame to attack him from the rear. The giant sword sliced Kisame in half. Naruto didn't even bother to look as both halves dissolved into water and sank into the ground. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way," said Naruto as he glanced at a particular tree. Kisame stepped out and held his sword up in front of his face as a gesture of respect for Naruto's sword skill. Naruto mimicked the stance and both shinobi stared at each other for a few seconds before charging forwards. Both fighters swung in different directions, Naruto upwards and Kisame downwards. Naruto's sword though was suddenly covered in blue flames. "Kitsune bi slash!" yelled Naruto. Kisame's eyes widened as he found his SameHade couldn't absorb the chakra fueling the flames. The mist nin was flung into the air as his robes caught on fire. As he hit the ground, the smell of cooked fish started to spread throughout the battle field. Kisame's injuries were so great that he was unable to stay conscious. Naruto then took a minute to catch his breath and survey how his companions were doing. Seeing his sensei and adopted mother were having a bit of a hard time, Naruto darted towards them, the giant sword covered in fire once again.

Ikushuka chuckled as he easily avoided Kyuubi's attacks. The kitsune woman was fast, but Ikushuka seemed to be even faster. Jiraiya was forced to hold off from attacking since he didn't want to hit Kyuubi. The frog senin blinked as Naruto leapt over him, sword raised for a vicious downward strike.** "**Okibi shougeki!" yelled Naruto as he plummeted towards Ikushuka with his swords aimed downwards to skewer the missing nin. Ikushuka barely managed to avoid one of Kyuubi's attacks and caught a glimpse of Naruto plummeting towards him. The plant user once again proceeded to block the attack with his shield of leaves. However, Naruto managed to penetrate the barrier with his sword and Ikushuka was forced to retreat under ground to avoid being sliced in two. Naruto secured the sword on his back before shifting into the Kitsune Ken stance and growing his tails, ears, fangs, and claws. Kyuubi and Naruto both sensed Ikushuka emerging from the ground and leapt towards him. Mother and kit surrounded the missing nin and grinned to show their fangs as foxfire blazed on their hands. "Okibi Panchi!" yelled Naruto as he sent a quick punch at the missing nin's back while Kyuubi yelled, "Okibi appa-katto!" as she delivered a blazing uppercut to Ikushuka's chin. The two Uzumaki kept hitting Ikushuka with one flaming attack after another until the missing nin was knocked unconscious.

Neji and Tenten both saw Naruto had Kisame under control and ran to help Hinata and Akemi. Itachi ducked a hail of kunai Tenten hurled at him, only to find himself surrounded by Hinata and Neji. Both Hyugas were in the Jyuken stance and yelled, "64 hands of Hakke!" before charging him. Itachi was unable to react because of Neji's strong divination field and felt both Hyuga start to seal off his Tsubos. "Two hands, four hands, eight hands, sixteen hands, thirty two hands, sixty four hands of Hakke!" chanted the Hyuga cousins as they finished their attacks. Itachi grimaced before disappearing in a burst of smoke. "Kage Bushin!" yelled Neji, only to get kicked in the gut by Itachi as the missing nin appeared in front of him. Hinata tried to strike Itachi in the back, but the missing nin hit her with a spinning rear kick that sent her crashing into Akemi. Itachi suddenly looked up to see Tenten hovering in mid air with two scrolls weaving around her. Tenten yelled, "Soushouryu!" and started pulling weapons from the scrolls. Kunai, shuriken, fumma shuriken, spears, sai, maces, sickles, and even more weapons rained down on Itachi. Tenten landed on the ground, panting with exhaustion from an earlier mission that day and having to throw all the weapons at such a high speed. Itachi suddenly appeared behind the weapons mistress and drove a kunai towards her back. Tenten heard the sound of a Kunai hitting flesh then became aware of something wet hitting her back. Spinning around, Tenten gasped as she saw Neji glaring at Itachi with the missing nin's kunai in his arm. "Reikon kujo (Soul Destruction) no Jutsu!" roared the Hyuga as blue chakra erupted around his hand as he drove it into Itachi's chest. Itachi's eyes widened as he felt like his soul was being destroyed inside him. The missing nin suddenly became a log and reappeared to kick Neji in the face, making him fall on top of Tenten unconscious from the strain his last jutsu had placed on him.

Akemi transformed herself into her fox form and leapt at Itachi, who rolled to the side to avoid her attack. The kitsune spun in midair and hit Itachi with her tails. Kimiko had already leapt into the air and lunged at Itachi yelling, "Sankon Tessou!" The attack hit but Itachi managed to pull off another Kawarimi and left a poor tree stump to get turned into kindling. Flamie had forced Hinata onto his back to keep her safe and took to the air to rain fireballs down on Itachi. Itachi was getting annoyed and pulled the sleeve of his left arm up to reveal a long dragon tattoo. Itachi bit his thumb and spread the blood along the dragon's body. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" whispered Itachi as he slammed his palms into the ground. The earth shook as something started pushing up to the surface. A large black dragon pulled itself free of the ground and roared loudly. Flamie whimpered as the much larger dragon eyed him like he was a fly that needed squishing. Kimiko gulped as she took in the giant dragon with Itachi standing on its head but bravely stepped forward. "I doubt you can do anything against my pet little girl," said Itachi. Kimiko grabbed her bow from its resting place on her back. The hanyou girl closed her eyes and carefully tried to sniff out the clash of youki energies that was the wind scar. The energy of the dragon was incredibly strong, Kimiko had to check to make sure she wasn't inside the beast's youki aura. Finally, the place where the two auras met appeared to her nose. Kimiko's eyes snapped open as she aimed an arrow towards the wind scar with a yell of "Ya Kaze no Kizu!" before releasing the arrow. The arrow was surrounded by a pink aura as it passed through the wind scar. Itachi's eyes widened as he saw five yellow energy beams seem to wrap themselves around the arrow's aura. The attack hit the dragon's chest and pierced it, causing the beast to roar in pain and anger.

"Damn, my powers aren't strong enough," growled Kimiko as she looked at the hole her attack had torn in the dragon's chest. "It's times like this that I wish I had dad's Tetsusaiga so I could use the Bakuryuuha," she continued as she ran to avoid a giant fireball the dragon shot at her. A yell of "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" from two different voices caught Kimiko's attention. Facing the dark dragon where the large forms of Gamabunta, with Naruto and Jiraiya standing on his head, andKatsuyu, the slug boss, with Tsunade on her head. (AN: I'm not sure of Katsuyu's sex, but I think it is a female slug) "Itachi, as Godaime of Konoha I will not let you harm any more of the people who have put their trust in me. Either surrender and face the charges for your crimes or prepare to die!" Itachi stared at Tsunade for a minute before taking in the large number of shinobi who had arrived with her. The dark dragon Itachi stood on growled deeply. "Patience Ryuujin, we will teach these fools a lesson," said Itachi. Gamabunta immediately drew his short sword while Katsuyu prepared an acid attack. Ryuujin made the first move though, sending a large ball of fire towards Katsuyu. The attack was intercepted by a giant fox tail courtesy of Kyuubi, who was now as large as when she was forced to attack Konoha fifth teen years ago. Kyuubi used her tail to easily bat the fireball into the air, glaring at the man who would have harmed her kit to get her power. Katsuyu inhaled suddenly then spat out a large burst of acid as Tsunade yelled, "Zeshi Nensan!" The acid attack would have hit Ryuujin if he hadn't taken to the air. Itachi was considering his next target when a shadow passed over his head. Looking up, Itachi found Flamie's tail swinging at his face. The missing nin didn't have enough time to dodge the blow and got knocked off Ryuujin's back. The dragon dove down, hoping to catch his master. "Gama, give me some oil! Are you ready Naruto?" yelled Jiraiya as he raised one hand like he was holding a tube to his mouth. Naruto nodded, foxfire gathering around his hands as Gamabunta spat out a large geyser of oil towards the ground as Ryuujin landed with Itachi on his back. Jiraiya yelled, "Katon!" and shot a large flame blast at the oil stream. The flames ignited the oil and Naruto raised his arms. "Kitsune bi!" yelled the Naruto as the blue flame shot out to curl around the flaming oil and shaped it into a giant blue fox head made entirely of flame with burning red eyes. "Kitsune Gama yuendan!" yelled Naruto as the fox shaped blast flew towards Ryuujin. The dragon roared, "Ryuujin Hibakuha!" and shot a beam of fire from his mouth that took on the shape of a dragon head. The two attacks collided and everyone present heard what sounded like a giant fox fighting a dragon before the fox attack overpowered the dragon one. Ryuujin had no chance to dodge as the fox head hit his body right on the wound Kimiko had given him. The dragon raised its head to the heavens and roared in agony before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Itachi had leapt clear of his summoned creature when he sensed the power behind his opponents' attack and quickly grabbed Kisame and Ikushuka before disappearing in a large cloud of smoke. However, a kage bushin leapt out of the cloud and hurled a chakra enhanced kunai at Kimiko that homed in on her before anyone could react. The kunai hit the hanyou girl in the side and she screamed as dark flames sprang up from the weapon. A sudden pink glow shone from the cut and a small round jewel popped out of Kimiko. Kimiko stared at the jewel as she collapsed to the ground, barely managing to grab it before she passed out from the pain of her wound. Naruto collapsed to his knees on top of Gamabunta, exhausted from how much chakra control he had to exert to shape the attack into the fox head. Kyuubi quickly and gently placed the boy on her back with a tail. Hinata scrambled up on top of Kyuubi to check on Naruto's condition as Kyuubi started lifting all the other unconscious teens up onto her back. "They're going to need a lot of rest," said Tsunade as she joined Hinata in checking all the teens. Luckily, most of them had just used all their chakra and would be fine after a few good meals and some rest. Kimiko's wound was a little more serious, Jiraiya had to seal the black flame inside a scroll like he had three years ago when he last faced Itachi before Tsunade could start to heal her. Unfortuneatly, Kimiko's body seemed to reject Tsunade's chakra and was healing on its own, although much slower than normal. Nothing could pry Kimiko's fist open, not even Tsunade's super strength. Hiryuu had arrived with the rescue party in time to see the jewel pop out of Kimiko and drew Tsunade aside to explain the legend behind the jewel. The young monk's tale lasted until they reached the gates of Konoha.

(---------)

Hyuga Hiashi had never been a very patient man. He had been talking to the Hokage about canceling the absurd, in his mind, engagement between Naruto and Hinata when a young boy dressed as a monk burst into Tsunade's office babbling something about Naruto's team needing help. Tsunade had immediately run out with the monk, leaving a very annoyed Hiashi sitting in front of her desk. The Hyuga Head tried to track down the Hokage, only to find she had rallied a rescue force and departed the village. Hiashi was now waiting at the village gate to confront Tsunade and finish their talk. The Hyuga head saw some Jounin returning from the rescue group and knew Tsunade wasn't far behind. However, Hiashi didn't expect to see Kyuubi walk out of the trees, step over the wall around Konoha like it wasn't even there, glare at him a second, then slowly walk towards the hospital so she wouldn't crush any villagers. Hiashi's mouth was hanging and the Chunin on gate guard duty struggled to keep from laughing at the expression on his face as they watched his eyes follow the giant fox. Since Tsunade had announced the truth of the events fifth teen years ago, many of the villagers had forgiven Kyuubi and turned their hatred towards Orochimaru. Hiashi still disliked the former youkai container since his behavior had made Hinata behave in ways that were inappropriate for a clan heir. ::Even without Kyuubi inside him that boy is still a danger. If he has allowed the secrets of the Byakugan to fall into enemy hands then I will bring the full wrath of the Hyuga clan down on him!::

(---------)

"Well, I've got everyone stabilized and they should recover soon," said Tsunade as she walked out of the intensive care section of the Konoha hospital with Sakura and Shizune. Kyuubi's body, which had been tense up till this point, relaxed as she let out a sigh of relief, echoed by Akemi, that Naruto was all right. Hinata had stayed by her boyfriend's side while he rested to recover from the huge charka use he had put himself through with his final attack. Neji was asleep with one hand clutching Tenten's as she kept watch over her boyfriend. Ryeka and Akira had to be treated for severe burns, but they had pulled through and were resting with Miyuki watching over them. Kimiko's pain had diminished, thanks to a bit of acupuncture by Hinata, allowing the hanyou girl to relax in bed while her body healed. Hiryuu sat by his friend's side with Kudora on one shoulder and Flamie on the other. The rest of Naruto's friends were gathered around Kyuubi and Akemi outside. Hiashi had tried to barge in to the recovery room, demanding to see Hinata, only to be glared down by Jiraiya, Kyuubi, and Tsunade. The Hyuga head had been so focused on his argument with the three adults that he didn't notice Akamaru walk up beside him and raise his leg. The feel of something wet by his feet distracted Hiashi from his argument as he looked down to stare at Akamaru walking away from him and the small yellow puddle beside him. "Sorry Hyuga-san, Akamaru was confused by the pattern on your kimono. The trees look like the bushes at our training ground and he just woke up from a nap. I guess he thought we were still at the training ground and did his business," said Kiba, fighting hard to keep his voice innocent and not burst out in laughter. Most of the other occupants of the room were having the same problem, Shino was actually chuckling softly, though you could only tell because his whole body moved slightly or if you had the enhanced sense of hearing shared by Kiba, Kyuubi, and Akemi. Shikamaru was the only one not laughing out loud, though a large grin decorated his face. Hiashi glared at the whole room before storming out.

As soon as the doors had closed behind Hiashi, the whole room erupted in laughter. "Oh Kami-sama, I needed that!" howled Tsunade as she pounded on the wall with tears of mirth running down her face. "I've been wanting let Akamaru do that for years!" yelled Kiba as he rolled around on the floor. The door to the room occupied by the recovering shinobi and dimensional visitors burst open and a sudden hail of kunai and shuriken shot towards the laughing group. Everyone dove for cover as the weapons flew towards them. Hinata and Tenten stood in the doorway, their expressions indicating they were extremely pissed off. "There are people trying to sleep in here! If you all have to make so much noise you can leave!" snarled Hinata, not caring that her friend had almost skewered her future mother and sister in law, her past teammates, current sensei, or the Hokage who had trained her as a medic nin. The two kunoichi glared at all their startled friends before shutting the door again. Lee was the first one to break the awkward silence that descended over the room. "Tenten and Hinata are surely filled with the fires of youthful passion. Neji and Naruto are lucky men," said the Taijutsu master. The rest of the shinobi all glanced at the doors separating them from their friends and knew that the bonds of love inside that room were some of the strongest forces in the village and nothing could break them.

(---------)

Neji was running. He didn't know if he was chasing something or if something was chasing him, all he knew was that he couldn't stop running. Trees blurred as he dashed past them, the forest never seeming to end. Finally, Neji came to a cliff overlooking a deep lake with a waterfall going over the cliff. Without hesitating the Hyuga boy ran right towards the cliff and leapt off gracefully to plummet towards the waters below. The wind rushing past his body seemed to make him feel more alive than he ever had before. The water grew closer and closer, shining with the sun and immeasurably deep and cool. Neji broke through the surface of the water and sank deep into the lake. Neji's eyes opened and he found himself staring at the ceiling of a room in the Konoha hospital. Turning his head, Neji found Tenten asleep on a chair beside him, her hand still clasping his. Evening sun shone through a window and formed a halo around Tenten's head. Neji smiled as he stored the image of his beautiful angel in his memory forever. Looking around the room, Neji saw Naruto sitting up in bed and talking softly with Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Kyuubi while Hinata and Akemi played cards together on Naruto's bed side table. Miyuki was talking to a strange boy that Neji had seen knocked out on the battle ground, who he guessed was her brother Akira. Next to Akira's bed Ryeka was cuddling Ren-oh-ki as she slept in her own bed. Hiryuu kept watch over Kimiko, whose face still bore a look of agony from Itachi's attack. Kimiko whimpered in her sleep, showing that Itachi's last attack was still hurting her. Tsunade was by the hanyou girl in a second, healing chakra shining in her hands as she tried to ease Kimiko's pain. Kimiko's cries didn't diminish a bit as time went on. Hiryuu suddenly removed Flamie and Kudora from his shoulder as he stood up and placed the two pets on the chair he had occupied. Everyone stared at the monk as he took a deep breath before raising his left hand in front of his face while his right grasped his staff. Hiryuu started chanting a prayer as he slowly moved the staff up and down, the soft jingling of the rings waking everyone who had been asleep and focusing their attention on him as a blue light started shining around Kimiko.

(---------)

(Inside Kimiko's mind)

Two figures huddled over the hanyou girl. One was a young girl with black hair and brilliant golden eyes. The other was a large white dog that was sadly nuzzling Kimiko's body. Kimiko's eyes opened and she sat up with a wince. "Damn Itachi, if I ever get my claws on him I'll shred him to pieces!" growled the dog as a bright light engulfed her. The light faded to reveal Kimiko with red stripes on her cheeks and blue eyes with red slits for pupils. Kimiko sighed as she reached up and scratched behind the ears of her youkai side. "You know I would love to let you do that but I don't want to end up cleaning his blood off my clothes, I'd never get the scent out." Kimiko's human side nodded and pulled a first aid kit out of nowhere to begin cleaning Kimiko's wound. A sudden POP alerted all three girls to the arrival of Flamie. The little dragon had used his mental connection to Kimiko to reach into her inner mind as soon as her body regained consciousness inside. Kimiko hugged Flamie happily as her human side resumed cleaning the wound while her youkai side was busy shredding an Itachi dummy. Hiryuu's voice suddenly reached the ears of all three girls as a blue light surrounded Kimiko.

(---------)

(In the hospital room)

Hiryuu breathed a sigh of relief as he saw the expression of pain on Kimiko's face slowly disappear after he finished his chant. Tsunade as staring at the sight of Kimiko's former wound in shock, all signs that she had been hurt had disappeared. "What was that?" asked Hinata. Her Byakugan had been active in an effort to examine Kimiko's condition so she had seen Hiryuu start to chant but failed to see any type of chakra. Hiryuu smiled as Kudora jumped back to his shoulder. "Kimiko's spirit was fighting off the dark chakra Itachi used to burn her in his attack. My chant strengthened her miko powers and allowed her body to repair the damage to her spirit and itself. I had to wait until her spirit was strong enough that my holy powers didn't purify her youkai traits away, since those are what allow her to heal so rapidly," said the monk. Kyuubi nodded, having often repaired Naruto's body from the inside she had a good idea what Hiryuu was talking about. Miyuki and Ryeka shared a glance behind Hiryuu's back, knowing that he had a crush on Kimiko, and smiled. Their silent exchange wasn't lost on Akemi and Hinata, both of whom decided that Kimiko and Hiryuu just might find themselves locked in a room together alone.

(---------)

By the time night fell the next day, everyone had recovered from the battle with the Akatsuki members. Kimiko's side was still a little stiff, but she insisted she was fine and could walk on her own. Tsunade had summoned Kimiko, Hiryuu, and Jiraiya's team to her office the next morning and Kimiko didn't want to miss out on whatever was going on. The hanyou girl stubbornly refused to stay in bed on the day of the meeting and would have run to the Hokage tower if Flamie hadn't shifted to his large form and grabbed the back of her shirt to hold her back before forcing her to get on his back so he could carry her through the streets. Many villagers stared at Flamie, but the sight of Hinata resting one hand on the dragon's side told the villagers that the dragon wouldn't attack unless provoked. One drunk made the mistake of trying to bully Naruto, only to find himself being flung into the air by Flamie's tail and crashing into a fountain to sober up. The group soon entered the Hokage tower with Flamie resuming his small form and perching on Kimiko's shoulder.

(---------)

"All right Baa-chan, whaaaaack!" yelled Naruto as he ducked a paperweight Tsunade threw at him for waking her up and calling her Baa-chan. The paperweight was headed right towards Hiryuu's face until Kimiko's hand snapped out and caught it in mid air like it was a small ball. Tsunade's eyes widened a little, since she had thrown the paperweight pretty hard, and Kimiko didn't seem to put any effort into catching it. Hinata gave Naruto a light hit on the head as she said, "Naruto-kun, you shouldn't disrespect Tsunade-sensei like that!" Naruto rolled his eyes and muttered something about old ladies using Henge, but shut up when Tsunade hefted a kunai that she usually used as a nail trimmer. Tsunade set the kunai down and picked up a mission scroll. "I've got your next mission right here, but I'm asking you to take Kimiko and Hiryuu with you since there is a chance you might have to fight demons during this mission and they have experience with them." Akemi looked a little nervous, something not lost on Tsunade. "Anything wrong Akemi-chan?" asked the Hokage. "Ano, you say we might have to fight demons, do you know if they are wild demons or are they being forced to fight?" replied the kitsune girl. Tsunade sighed and walked over to a large map showing the Shinobi countries. "I don't know for sure, but our scouts have reported that Sound nins have been gathering in an old set of ruins in one of the neutral regions between the Fire and Wind countries. The Kazekage has requested our help in this situation, since all his shinobi teams are occupied with a Sound invasion. We believe Sound has set up a base in the old ruins and is using this base to launch attacks into the Wind country. The only problem is our scouts report huge chakra signatures, not nearly as strong as Kyuubi's fifth teen years ago, but pretty close. Since the ruins were supposedly used to confine demons for ancient warriors to fight in an arena, I'm afraid that the Sound Nins have captured or summoned some demons and is holding them there," said Tsunade.

Everyone was stunned at the idea of Orochimaru having access to demons; they all knew what he was capable of. Naruto scowled as he remembered that Orochimaru's scheme robbed him of his chance to be a normal shinobi and made the first twelve years of his life miserable. "If it will hurt the slimy snake I'll level that place to the ground so much you won't even be able to tell it was there!" said Naruto as his eyes briefly flickered to Kyuubi like they used to when he was using a large amount of her chakra. Tsunade shuddered slightly at the sight of her little brother with demon eyes before looking at Akemi and Hinata. "Are the two of you prepared to go on this mission?" asked Tsunade. Hinata looked at Naruto and Akemi and seemed to draw strength from their encouraging looks before she nodded and said, "I have a duty as a medic nin of Konoha to make sure my comrades are safe and heal their wounds. I will not abandon them if the face of danger, nor will I hinder them!" Tsunade smiled at her former student, Hinata was the perfect example of a medic nin. Akemi now spoke up, "I can not forgive Orochimaru for the pain he has caused Oka-san and me. If I can do anything to prevent the same fate befalling others I will gladly do so!" Jiraiya looked extremely proud of his team, they all knew that this mission would be a tough one but they were willing to go anyway. "Can we expect any type of back-up from hidden Sand?" asked the toad senin. Tsunade sighed and said, "There is a possibility Gaara's team will be able to slip through the enemy lines and join with you. If that is the case, after the base is destroyed you will assist them in attacking the enemy forces from the rear. I don't care what you do, summon Gamabunta to squash all of them if you want to!" Naruto suddenly grinned and Hinata just knew her boyfriend had slipped back into the role of Konoha's number one prankster. How many times had she seen him grin like that just before one of his pranks went off on an unsuspecting victim? More than she could count. Hiryuu glanced at Kimiko before saying, "As a monk and a Taijiya, it is my duty to protect people from monsters." Kimiko just tested her bowstring to make sure her bow was ready for action and checked how many arrows she had. Tsunade grinned as she surveyed the group of determined teens. "Great, you leave tomorrow at noon so rest up!" exclaimed Tsunade.

(---------)

(Edge of the ruins)

"So how are we going to do this?" asked Kimiko as she looked at the ruins from a distance through Jiraiya's telescope that Naruto had stolen. The group was on the edge of the valley that contained the ruins and hidden from view by a large number of boulders. The ruins weren't very complex, just five buildings surrounding a large arena. A wall surrounded the buildings with only one opening to allow entry to the ruins. Two new looking guard towers stood on either side of the opening with Sound nin watching for intruders. Jiraiya took a good look at the layout of the buildings before sketching a rough map of the ruins in the dirt. "Naruto, Hinata, and Hiryuu will be in one group while Kimiko, Akemi, and I will be in another. We'll go and search the arena since that is the most likely place to keep any demons captive while you three search the buildings, starting from the small one to your right as you enter the ruins. Go through all the buildings that you can and eliminate any Sound nin you encounter. After searching all the buildings and the arena we'll make our escape. For that we'll need a distraction. Naruto, you'll have to slip to the rear of the ruins and create a horde of Kage Bushin that all look different from each other to confuse our enemies. Then you simply have to get over the wall and we're home free." Naruto nodded, Jiraiya had managed to drill a grasp of tactics into his head over the past three years and he was already planning the route between the buildings that his group would take. "How do we take out the sentries?" asked Kimiko. Jiraiya reached into his pack and pulled out a thin tube. "We'll be using these blowguns to shoot darts dipped in knockout formula at the sentries," said the perverted hermit. Kimiko's mouth stretched into a huge grin and Jiraiya suddenly realized he might be in trouble.

"I don't believe it!" whispered Naruto as he watched Kimiko finish darting the last of the sentries. The hanyou girl had hit each sentry with a single dart with perfect timing so they slumped in a position that looked like they were still keeping watch. Kimiko spun the blowgun like a baton before slipping it into her pack. "What can I say? I used to practice shooting darts at a particularly annoying little imp," said Kimiko with a shrug and a smile. The groups swiftly made their way to the edge of the opening in the wall. Kimiko and Akemi checked the air for any nearby Sound nins while Hinata scanned the area with her Byakugan. Seeing that the coast was clear, Hinata signaled 'all clear'. The two groups rushed through the opening in the wall, Kimiko, Jiraiya, and Akemi darting towards the arena while Naruto, Hinata, and Hiryuu ran to the closest building. Hinata checked the inside and found a single Sound nin asleep on a desk. Naruto picked the lock and the three friends slipped inside. Hinata pressed a few pressure points and sent the Sound nin into a deeper sleep that would last all day. Naruto quickly searched the desk and found a few maps and important looking scrolls which he passed to Hiryuu while Hinata kept watch. There was nothing else of interest in the building, so the group darted to the next one, a large L-shaped building. This turned out to be a mess hall, fortunately unoccupied. Hinata poured few handfuls of some ground herbs into a large water tank used for cooking. "These herbs will dissolve into the water and give everyone a bad case of diarrhea!" said the girl with a small grin that Naruto returned. The three then ran towards the next building, another small one, and found a store house of supplies and weapons. Naruto and Hinata grabbed all the kunai and shuriken they could find while Hiryuu kept watch at the door. As the group left the building, a group of Sound nins exited the next building, a small two story one, and spotted them. Naruto quickly took off with Hinata and Hiryuu at his heels as he ran towards the arena as the Sound nins yelled out an alert. As the three skidded to a stop in the center of the arena they found themselves swiftly surrounded by Sound nins. Naruto scowled and pulled his giant sword off his back as Hinata shifted into theJyuuken stance of her family with the Byakugan activated. Hiryuu tightened his grip on his staff as Kudora leapt down from his shoulder to transform into her large form and guard his side. All four of them went back to back to cover each other.

Jiraiya led Kimiko and Akemi towards the arena and to a small stairway leading underneath the structure. Two bored Sound nin standing guard at the bottom of the stare only saw black and red blurs as Kimiko and Akemi darted forward and knocked them out. The door to the lower level of the arena was unlocked, so the trio managed to slip in without any more sound nins being alerted to their presence. The trio found themselves in a large underground passage that seemed to be waiting rooms for fighters to prepare for their next match. Further down the corridor, they found several large empty cages. At the very end of the corridor were two cages that were not empty. Kimiko gasped as she saw the creatures trapped inside. "Shippo! Rin!" she exclaimed. Both of the older teens were in their true form, Rin a large black dog and Shippo a nine tailed fox. Both changed to their normal forms as they saw Kimiko and Flamie. Kimiko tried to hug Shippo through the bars of the cage, only to receive a nasty shock and get thrown back against the far wall. "Itai, what the heck was that?" yelled Kimiko as she got up while rubbing her head. "Some weird jutsu they placed on the bars to keep me from ripping them out," said Shippo. "Luckily they caught us in our true forms, so they haven't been able to take away Heart's Fire or Rin's daggers." Jiraiya was examining the bars carefully and groaned. "Great, Kikan kinko, the electrical feedback imprisonment! Orochimaru would use this to guard anything he felt was important. I've never been able to break it," said the senin. "Did you see any of your captors place a scroll or seal on the wall anywhere nearby?" he continued. Shippo started to shake his head before stopping to think for a minute. "Well, one of them was fiddling around above the bars where we couldn't see him do anything," he said. Flamie immediately flew up to look above the doors and found a seal etched into the stone. Jiraiya used his telescope to examine the area and started to grin. "Excellent, now we can get rid of that feedback!" he said. "But I thought you didn't know how to break it Ero-senin!" yelled Akemi. Jiraiya slapped his forehead at Naruto's nickname for him before saying, "Right, I can't break it but if we destroy the seal the jutsu will collapse." Flamie immediately started breathing a steady stream of fire over the seal above Shippo's cage, quickly melting the stone around the seal and erasing it. As Flamie moved to Rin's cage, Shippo shifted back to his fox form and tried to rip out the bars. To his surprise the flimsy metal bars held strong and didn't budge. Akemi transformed also, but wasn't able to budge the bars working by herself or with Shippo and Kimiko. All three collapsed to the ground panting. Flamie tried to melt the bars loose, but that didn't work. Not ever Heart's Fire at full power could make a nick in these bars. Fox fire and fire jutsu failed also. Kimiko got so frustrated she gave the bars a good kick, only to hurt her toe and start mumbling curses Kagome wouldn't have liked hearing from her daughter as she hopped on one foot.

While Jiraiya's group was having trouble down below, Naruto's group was facing their own share of difficulties. Several dead sound nins surrounded the group, but they weren't without wounds themselves. Hinata had taken a nasty cut from a katana in the side while Kudora was nursing a few burns from explosion notes wrapped around kunai as well as the loss of one paw from a serious wound dealt by an axe wielding Sound nin whom Hiryuu promptly made sure never sired children with a swing of his staff. Hiryuu had a few cuts and scratches but was mostly fine due to theTaijiya outfit he wore beneath his robes. Naruto's scratches and cuts had mostly healed except for a puncture wound in his left arm from when he blocked a kunai from hitting Hinata. All together they had given a good account of themselves, with several dead Sound nins each and many more severely injured or knocked out. Right now the Sound nins had backed off, giving the group time to catch their breath and allowing Hinata the chance to heal her wound as well as Kudora's paw. A sudden flare of chakra had all four looking at the entrance to the arena. A single cloaked figure walked in, the Sound nins giving way and leaving a clear aisle in front of the mysterious person whom they all seemed to fear. The cloaked figure finally stopped a few meters from Naruto and removed their cloak. Naruto growled and his eyes turned red as he saw two swirling Sharingan eyes staring at him from beneath raven hair topped by a Sound Hitai-ate. "Sasuke, how dare you show your face to me after what you did! You left Kakashi-sensei, Sakura-chan, the whole village, and me for that snake bastard!"

Sasuke took in Hinata, Hiryuu, Kudora before dismissing them and turning his attention to Naruto. "I didn't expect to see you here Dobe. I thought it was a squad of Jounin that came here to wipe us out. It seems you've gotten stronger since the last time we fought in the Valley of the End. Lets just see how strong you are, Naruto," said Sasuke with his trademark smirk. Two Sound nins suddenly darted behind Hinata and Hiryuu to pull them back to the edge of the arena with the other Sound nins. Kudora leapt towards her master to save him, only to fall victim to a gas bomb that knocked her out. Naruto growled as the Sound nin holding Hinata hostage shifted his kunai a little bit and caused a drop of blood to appear on her throat. "Leave them alone and I'll fight you Sasuke, but if they are hurt any more I won't be responsible for the consequences. Sasuke made a gesture and the shinobi holding Hinata relaxed slightly. Naruto glanced at his fiancée and friend. "Don't interfere, this is personal," he said to them. "Naruto-kun… I …" said Hinata as tears started forming in her eyes as the memories of how badly Naruto was hurt in his last fight with Sasuke. This time, Hinata was afraid her boyfriend would die. Naruto was suddenly fight in front of Hinata and wiping away her tears with a handkerchief. "Shimpai Shite Mo (Don't worry) Hinata-chan, I'll kick Sasuke-yarou's butt!" said Naruto with a smile before kissing Hinata on the cheek. No one was able to see Naruto dart up to Hinata, except for Sasuke. Naruto then glared at the shinobi holding Hinata hostage and showed his fangs. "Hurt her and I'll rip out your balls and stuff them down your throat!" he growled before walking back towards Sasuke, who tossed a soldier pill at Naruto. "I want a fair fight dobe, you had better use that to regain all you chakra!" said Sasuke. Naruto popped the pill into his mouth, his enhanced sense of smell detecting no trace of poison or anything harmful to him. Sasuke and Naruto both stared at the other's eyes, waiting for a slight twitch to signal the first move. A single leaf drifted down on the wind between the two fighters. As the leaf hit the ground between them, both Sasuke and Naruto darted towards their former friend and teammate.

**Well, the next chapter will have a big Sasuke vs. Naruto fight with Naruto going practically all out, a jailbreak, lots of running, some romance in the hospital, and the introduction of Shippo and Rin to the Konoha gang. Read and Review!**


	5. End Mission 2, relaxing at home

**Roar of the Dragon: Okay everyone, vote time: Do I pair Shikamaru up with Ino or Temari? Sakura with Sasuke or Lee? And who will catch Akemi's interest? Give me your opinions. However, Akemi can't have Shikamaru or the guy Sakura ends up with. Also, one request for my female readers: what do girls do at slumber parties besides talk, play some party games, and maybe watch some movies? The Konoha girls will be having a slumber party later and I need to get started on planning what will happen.**

_Review Responses:_

_xAkix: Umm, let me put it this way: I know Tenten won't hug Neji to death by cutting off his air supply. As for your mom forbidding you to write more of your story, just write a rough outline of what you want to have happen in each chapter on paper and pencil and type up the chapter later, that is what I do. As for Kimiko and Hiryuu, they're in a sort of Inuyasha Kagome relationship. Neither one knows how the other feels about them. I'm not sure how I'm going to hook them up yet, but they will be hooked up before they return to their world. As for Mirouku being in deep kuso, Inuyasha knows Hiryuu is an honorable monk, unlike his father, so Inuyasha trusts him around his little girl._

_Story Weaver1: I actually found my Inuyasha battles a little easier to write but I'm glad you liked this batch!_

_Fiery Demon Fox: No, Sasuke vs Naruto isn't bad, their major fight in the managa spans several issues and is one of the best parts of the manga. _

_Crazyhanyoued: You might be surprised at how Sasuke and Naruto's battle goes at first. Glad you thought Kimiko was cool._

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Inuyasha, Ranma 1/2, Oh my Goddess, or Tenchi Muyo. If I did I would have a PS2, a Game cube, and an X-box and never have to worry about putting in this disclaimer.**

Naruto charged at Sasuke, intent on defeating his rival and keeping his promise of a lifetime to bring him back to Konoha. Sasuke was focused on defeating Naruto and proving he was ready to take on Itachi. Everyone watching knew that these two would fight to the brink of death and keep going as long as they could. Hinata was worried, she had her Byakugan active and saw Jiraiya, Kimiko, and Akemi in a passage underneath the arena floor talking to two people in separate cages. They seemed to be trying to break the bars on the cage. The sound of flesh hitting flesh drew Hinata's attention back to the center of the arena. Naruto and Sasuke were exchanging blow after blow. Punches, kicks, flips, leg sweeps, all were a blur, it looked like the arms and legs of both boys were blurs as they fought in the center of the arena, neither one moving the slightest bit. Hinata was surprised to see Sasuke didn't have his Sharingan active at this point, which puzzled her. Both fighters sprang apart and landed on opposite ends of the arena. "Nice work out dobe, it looks like I'll have some fun with this fight!" said Sasuke with a smirk as his eyes briefly closed and opened to reveal the Sharingan. Naruto didn't reply except to take on the Kitsune Ken stance and raise one hand palm up towards Sasuke. Naruto waved the fingers of his hand back and forth to say, 'come at me' which irritated Sasuke to no end. Here was the dead last asking for the top of the class to come at him. Sasuke charged at Naruto, punching the foxboy in the gut. Naruto flew across the arena as Sound shinobi dived out of his path so he hit the wall in a big cloud of dust. Sasuke smirked and waited for Naruto to show himself. A loud yell of "Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" caused the smoke cloud to grow larger. A horde of Naruto bushins charged out of the smoke screen provided by the jutsu and ran towards Sasuke. Sasuke's Sharingan allowed him to see one hanging back within the smoke screen.

:So the dobe thinks he can hide in there and send his clones out to wear me out: thought Sasuke with a mental smirk as he quickly made the seals for horse and tiger before inhaling deeply :Goukakyuu no Jutsu: yelled Sasuke inside his head as he breathed out a huge fireball that easily eliminated all the bushins. The giant fireball shot towards the Naruto concealed by the rapidly fading cloud of smoke. Naruto's eyes widened and he barely managed to leap over the fireball.

Naruto landed on his feet and glared at Sasuke. "Nice, you've really improved over the past three years Sasuke. But, so have I!" exclaimed Naruto before holding up his hand. A blue flame sprang up over Naruto's palm as he grinned at Sasuke. "Kitsune bi!" yelled Naruto as he hurled the fire ball at Sasuke, who ducked to avoid the attack. Naruto then created another fireball, this one much bigger than the first, and hurled it into the air. "Naruto Ninpocho: Jouro Kitsune Bi!" yelled Naruto. The fireball burst into millions of smaller fireballs that all fell towards Sasuke rapidly.

Sasuke quickly formed seals and yelled, "Suiton Suijinheki!" before spewing out a large water blast that formed a barrier around him and nullified the foxfire. Sasuke smirked and looked at Naruto to see what he thought of his counter, only to see Naruto grinning his trademark fox grin as his fist met Sasuke's face. Sasuke flew backwards and his water barrier disappeared.

Sasuke stood up slowly and popped his neck joints before disappearing from Naruto's sight. The former Konoha nin suddenly slid beneath Naruto and delivered a powerful kick to his former friend's chin. Naruto wasn't able to react in time and Sasuke pressed a pressure point on his back, paralyzing the fox boy as he whispered, "Kage Buyou." Sasuke then flipped over Naruto and kicked him in the gut. Sasuke then spun Naruto so the fox boy was beneath him and drove his fist into Naruto's chest before grabbing him as they plummeted towards the ground. Just before they reached the ground Sasuke spun himself around and delivered an axe kick to Naruto's chest with a yell of "Shishi Rendan!" Sasuke then used his arm to perform a quick back flip before landing safely on the ground as a cloud of smoke hid Naruto from view. The smoke quickly blew away to reveal a battered Naruto. Naruto opened one eye and spat some blood out of his mouth. "Pathetic, you gave me a tougher battle three years ago!" said Sasuke with a snort.

Naruto suddenly grinned and disappeared into a cloud of smoke. :Kage Bushin? But it should have been destroyed by my first kick: thought Sasuke. A sudden laugh from the crater Naruto had made in the wall had everyone looking over to see a rock on the arena floor turn into Naruto with a puff of smoke.

"Really Sasuke, did you think I would just charge in blindly like I used to? I played the same trick on Neji, having a Kage Bushin act like me while I stayed hidden to ambush him while his guard was down. Never underestimate Konoha's number one prankster! Speaking of which, look down," said Naruto. Sasuke looked down to find his pants had somehow fallen down, leaving him standing in his Uchiha fan patterned boxers. Hinata and Hiryuu both started laughing and even some of the Sound shinobi seemed to be fighting a smile.

Sasuke swiftly pulled up his pants with a blush on his cheeks and made sure the belt he used to secure them was securely fastened. Sasuke then glared at Naruto, who simply grinned and let the glare bounce off him. "Naruto Ninpocho: Death by Fangirl!" yelled Naruto as a horde of Naruto clones appeared and transformed into Ino, Sakura, and all the other girls Naruto had ever seen chase after Sasuke. Sasuke's eyes widened and he grabbed a bunch of kunai and shuriken. The weapons flew through the air to destroy all the clones, leaving a wide eyed Sasuke, who shivered like he had seen the greatest horror known to man, and a grinning Naruto.

Hinata sighed, Naruto was not taking this seriously. "Naruto-kun, if you don't get serious I'm not kissing you when this is over!" she yelled.

Naruto's happy grin disappeared and he spun around to face Hinata. "You wouldn't!" he growled. Hinata just stared at Naruto and he cringed knowing she would. Sasuke meanwhile regained his composure and activated his curse seal to level one. Black flame marking spread over his body from the three comma shaped marks on the left side of his neck. Naruto saw Hinata and Hiryuu's eyes widen and spun around to see Sasuke covered in the black marking and glowing with a purple chakra. "Time to get serious eh?" said Naruto as he reached up and pulled off his jacket before tossing it aside. The orange jacket hit the ground and a huge cloud of dust sprang up. "Kitsune hair makes great clothes for training, it weighs a lot!" said Naruto with a grin as he pulled leg warmers similar to Lee's off of his legs and tossed them aside also. Two more smoke clouds appeared and Naruto grinned. "Don't blink Sasuke-teme, you might miss something!" he said before he seemed to disappear. Sasuke's Sharingan gave him only a split second to react as a fist was headed for his face. Sasuke managed to avoid Naruto's blows, but he knew he needed more chakra to match Naruto's speed. Sasuke went to Curse Seal level two (AN: UGH, sounds like DBZ). Sasuke's skin darkened as his hair turned white and his nails turned into claws like Kimiko's. Two giant wings, that looked like gross versions of his hands, sprouted from Sasuke's back.

"Now Naruto, show me your real power!" yelled Sasuke. Naruto's face hardened before his fox features revealed themselves.

"Sasuke, you told me that high class shinobi can only read inside each others minds when their fists meet. I'll show you that you were wrong to come to Orochimaru and betray Konoha!" yelled Naruto. Sasuke didn't say anything, he only glared at Naruto. Both of the fighters then charged at each other and their fists collided in the center of the arena. Once again a rapid series of blows was exchanged with neither fighter budging an inch. Naruto though noticed something. :I feel a deep sorrow each time he hits me. Is this Sasuke's soul crying out that I hear: Naruto was so wrapped up in his thoughts that his guard dropped and Sasuke hit him in the stomach again, knocking the wind from Naruto as he crashed into the arena wall unconscious (AN: I can't let Naruto get through all the fights without him getting hurt a few times). Sasuke's hands formed the seals for the assassination jutsu Kakashi had taught him for the final part of the Chunin Exam three years ago.

The sound of a thousand birds filled the arena and caused Hinata's face to pale. "Chidori!" she gasped.

Sasuke grinned, "It is time to finish this!" he yelled before charging at Naruto, the ground below his hand being torn up as he ran. Just as Sasuke was lifted his arm to plunge it into Naruto's head, a grey and blue blur appeared in front of him and a voice yelled, "Hakke Shou Kaiten!" Sasuke was thrown back, surprise clearly showing on his face as he realized his attack had been deflected. He was even more surprised to see Hinata standing in a crater in front of Naruto with her Byakugan active and in the Jyuken stance. "Uchiha Sasuke, I can not allow you to harm my precious person!" said Hinata quietly, though everyone in the arena was able to hear her.

Sasuke stared at Hinata in disbelief. He had never really seen Hinata fight but he knew she was not a very strong fighter. However, the fact that she managed to deflect his Chidori showed she had some skill. "You got lucky Hyuga, this time I'll rip out your heart and show it to Naruto before I kill him!" snarled Sasuke. Hinata didn't say anything, except to smirk slightly. "What's so funny?" asked Sasuke.

"You're within the field of my Hakke!" said Hinata. Hinata seemed to bend over with her left hand almost touching the ground and her right hand raised behind her back in the air. "Hakke Rokujuu Yonshou!" exclaimed Hinata before suddenly darting forward and hitting Sasuke in the chest and back with a yell of "Two Hakke!" Four more rapid blows followed with a yell of "Four Hakke!" Sasuke grunted as Hinata's hands dealt him eight more blows, then sixteen, thirty two, and finally sixty four. "Sixty Four hands of Hakke!" yelled Hinata as she jumped backwards to resume her position in front of Naruto.

Sasuke gasped, he felt like all of his chakra had disappeared as he collapsed to his knees. "What… what did you…do to… me?" he managed to gasp.

"I've closed off your Tsubos, cutting off the chakra flow through your body!" said Hinata as blue chakra formed around her right hand for the chakra scalpel. Hinata lunged at Sasuke, aiming to disable him with a quick blow from her left as she faked a slice with the chakra scalpel. However, Sasuke suddenly looked up at her and she gasped as he raised his arm to point at her.

"Senei Jyashu!" yelled Sasuke as a bunch of snakes shot out of his shirt sleeve and grabbed Hinata to immobilize her. The snakes' momentum carried Hinata to the wall beside Naruto. Sasuke stood up, a maniacal grin on his face. "I admit you surprised me girl, if it wasn't for this curse seal I would have been drained of all my chakra. Now I'll just kill you!" Sasuke once again made the hand seals for Chidori and charged towards Naruto and Hinata.

Naruto groaned, the sound of a thousand birds echoing through his head. Naruto's heart nearly stopped as he heard the sound suddenly stop and be replaced with the sound of a hand punching through a body. Naruto's eyes opened and he thought he was in a nightmare. Sasuke had his hand through Hinata's chest and the bastard was laughing as he pulled it out. Naruto could see Sasuke hadn't hit any vital organs but the wound was so serious that Hinata wouldn't be able to heal herself before she died of bloodloss. Naruto saw red as the person that had always acknowledged and loved him gasped in pain.

Suddenly, everyone in the arena felt a huge surge of chakra. Sasuke spun around to find Naruto's fox features, which had disappeared when he was knocked out, had reappeared and the blond shinobi was now surrounded by a chakra outline of a nine tailed fox. Naruto raised his head and let out a mournful howl before fixing his eyes on Sasuke. "You killed her!" growled Naruto before he lunged at Sasuke. Sasuke found that just like in their fight in the Valley of the End, the chakra fox form could move instantly to intercept him. Having no choice, Sasuke leapt to the far edge of the arena after landing a lucky kick to Naruto's face and sending him crashing back into the wall in a cloud of dust. No one noticed that Naruto changed into what looked like his Sexy no Jutsu form because of all the chakra and dust surrounding the blond shinobi. For the third time, Chidori blazed in Sasuke's hands. Naruto pulled himself up again and formed a Rasengan in one hand. Both charged at each other, meeting in the center of the arena. The two attacks collided in a bright flash of light that blinded everyone in the arena. A huge explosion occurred and two blurs slammed into the wall on opposite sides of the arena.

(-)

Underneath the arena, Kimiko was ready to start bashing her head on the wall. They still hadn't figured out a way to free Shippo and Rin. Akemi sighed as she glared at the bars. "If only I was stronger I could break these. Oka-san could easily do that if she was here." Kimiko nodded, her thoughts elsewhere until Akemi's first sentence clicked in her head.

"I just might have an idea!" said Kimiko as she reached into her miko robes and found a shuriken holster modified to hold the Shikon Jewel attached to the belt under her pants.

As Kimiko brought out the Jewel, Shippo's eyes widened and he groaned. "Oh hell, how is the jewel here? Wait don't answer, let me guess. You got wounded and the jewel just popped right out?" asked the trapped kitsune.

Kimiko nodded and placed the jewel in Akemi's hands. "Try to remove the bars now!" said Kimiko. Akemi shrugged and obeyed. To her surprise, the bars tore out of the stone like it wasn't even there. Jiraiya's eyes threatened to pop out of his head as his jaw hit the floor in amazement.

Akemi stared at the bars for a second before crumpling them into a small ball. "Guess I don't know my own strength," she said as Shippo stepped out of his cage. Akemi soon had Rin freed and returned the jewel to Kimiko. Kimiko had just finished closing the jewel's holder when the whole corridor they were in when they all felt a huge surge of energy above them.

Jiriaya's face paled as he said, "Oh shit, Naruto's snapped!" seeing the looks everyone was giving him, the toad senin sighed and said, "I'll explain in more detail later, but the bare bones is that when Naruto uses Kyuubi's chakra in his human fox hybrid form her goes a little crazy. He'll attack any enemies without stopping until they are dead. The result of using so much of Kyuubi's chakra is a fox shaped aura that surrounds Naruto, as well as some interesting shape shifting." Another surge of chakra above them was felt as well as fear as the corridor started shaking. "Shit, we have to get out of here!" yelled Jiraiya. The whole group ran for their lives and barely made it outside before an explosion caved in the passage.

Kimiko turned to examine the rest of the ruins and her nose caught the scent of Hinata's blood. "Hinata-chan is severely wounded!" gasped the hanyou girl before running towards one of the entrances to the arena with the rest of the group behind him. Kimiko skidded to a stop as she the backs of a bunch of Sound shinobi facing away from her.

Shippo and Rin drew their weapons and grinned at each other. "Time for some payback for mistreating us!" said Rin with a grin that Shippo echoed. Both of the youkai darted forward and attacked the Sound shinobi. Akemi and Kimiko freed Hiryuu while Jiraiya used his Swamp of the Underworld to trap most of the enemy shinobi.

Kimiko looked up as the smoke and dust were blown away to see a large crater in the center of the arena. On the side farthest from her the hanyou girl could see a black haired figure lying unconscious on the ground. Kimiko turned to look at the wall closer to her location. What she saw surprised her. An female Naruto with fox features was sobbing over Hinata. Kimiko ran over and was relieved to see Hinata breathing. "Naruto, what happened?" asked Kimiko.

Naruto sniffed before saying, "Hinata fought off Sasuke to save me and he killed her!"

Kimiko stared at Naruto and yelled, "Baka, she isn't dead yet!" Naruto's eyes widened and she placed one fox ear on Hinata's chest. Faintly, Naruto could hear a heart beat. Naruto's face changed from sad to determined as she grabbed a kunai from her supply pouch and suddenly slit her wrist. Naruto then cut Hinata's wrist and pressed the two wounds together. Kimiko started to demand what Naruto was doing, but the blond girl started chanting in a strange language before Kimiko could open her mouth.

Jiraiya had run over upon hearing Kimiko's yell and seemed to know what was going on. "What is Naruto doing Ero-senin? And why is he a she?" asked Kimiko.

Jiraiya sighed and said, "To give Naruto access to all her powers, Kyuubi had to partially merge with him. However, since Kyuubi is female, whenever Naruto is in the fox human hybrid form and uses too much of her chakra, his body automatically shifts into a female form to make the chakra flow easier. It's an example of a yin yang principle; mainly Naruto's male body can't handle all of the chakra he is using. As for the weird chant and slitting of the wrists, that is an ancient kitsune ritual that will transfer some of Naruto's blood into Hinata, thus granting her some of Kyuubi's powers. Kyuubi taught Naruto this so that if he ever got married his wife would be able to become more like him and wouldn't feel inferior to him. Watch and you'll see what I mean." Kimiko turned her attention back to Hinata and was amazed to see the hole in her chest rapidly closing as red chakra glowed around the edges of the wound.

By now all the Sound shinobi were dead and the rest of the group joined the Senin and hanyou in their vigil. As soon as Hinata's wound had mended, red chakra surrounded her body and obscured her from the sight of the watchers. The red chakra was suddenly sucked back into Hinata and everyone was surprised to see blue fox ears perched on top of her head and three blue fox tails sticking out of her pants. Hinata's eyes opened and she yawned slightly, seemingly from a long sleep. Hinata suddenly remembered what had happened after she attempted to close off Sasuke's Tsubos and she gasped and grabbed at her chest. Finding no wound when she clearly remembered Sasuke's Chidori hitting her dead on, Hinata looked around in surprise until her eyes focused on a tired by happy female Naruto. "Naruto-kun?" whispered Hinata. Naruto nodded, quickly repeating Jiraiya's explanation on using Kyuubi's chakra. Hinata's ears suddenly twitched as a leaf drifted down to land on them and she jumped in surprise before clasping her hands to her head.

Naruto rubbed her head and looked down at the ground in shame. "Gomen Nasai Hinata-chan, but to save your life I had to give you some of my blood so you would gain the same healing powers I have. I'm afraid your now half kitsune like me," said Naruto. Hinata blinked, reaching back behind her and feeling her tails before feeling inside her mouth to find her canines had grown a little longer and sharper. "Are you mad Hinata-chan?" asked Naruto without looking at the blue haired girl.

Naruto's question was answered by Hinata tackling her in a hug and kissing her hard on the lips. Hinata smiled and actually licked Naruto's cheek before saying, "No Naruto-ku…chan, I am not mad. You saved my life just like I saved yours. Now we can truly live out our lives together as equals." Naruto blushed, very aware that Hinata's scent said she didn't care that Naruto was temporarily stuck as a girl, and quickly shifter back to his normal form, though he kept the fox ears and tails. (AN: from now on I'll call Naruto and Hinata kitsune, just for simplicity)

Both of the kitsune stood up and hugged each other before turning to their friends. The first thing they noticed was Jiraiya scribbling in his note book with a small trail of drool hanging off his chin. Said pervert found himself on the receiving end of One Thousand Years of Pain from an enraged Naruto while Hinata instinctively used fox fire to burn the note book. Everyone was so wrapped up in watching Naruto and Hinata yell at Jiraiya that they didn't notice Sasuke charging at Naruto with a kunai until a wall of sand suddenly appeared in front of the enraged Uchiha and surrounded him. "Uzumaki Naruto, it is good to see you again," said a voice that Jiraiya, Hinata, and Naruto recognized.

"Hi Gaara, how's the badger?" asked Naruto with a grin, completely forgetting that only a wall of sand separated him from Sasuke. Gaara glared at the blond, but a slight upwards twitch of his lips showed he was trying not to smile. Flanking Gaara were his siblings Temari and Kankuro. Temari had her giant fan on her back while Kankuro's two puppets were wrapped in their bandage covers on his. "As you can see the three of you missed most of the fun," said Naruto.

Temari raised one eyebrow as she surveyed the huge number of dead or unconscious Sound shinobi littering the floor of the arena while Kankuro chuckled. Gaara didn't say anything as he glared at Sasuke and formed the sand into a sort of strait jacket that prevented Sasuke from making any seals. Hinata jabbed a pressure point on Sasuke's neck that caused him to fall unconscious and said, "That should keep him out of it for a few days, long enough for us to transport him to Konoha."

Naruto grinned and made several seals before yelling "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" as he slammed his hand on to the ground. A large cloud of smoke appeared and as it cleared away everyone saw Naruto standing on top of Gamabunta's head.

"Oi Gaki! Why'd you summon me this time?" asked the huge toad.

"I need you to help me take Sasuke bastard back to Konoha while the rest of the group attacks the Sound forces from the rear. We'll bring reinforcements and get to the battle after dropping off Sasuke," said Naruto. Gamabunta glanced at Sasuke and sighed.

"All right, but you had better make sure that I get some action, I'm not your errand boy!" growled the toad boss as Gaara's sand lifted Sasuke on to Gamabunta. Naruto gathered chakra on his feet to keep himself and Sasuke in place. Gamabunta crouched down and then leapt out of the arena and ruins all together. The ground shook when the giant toad landed some distance away. The shaking continued several times until Gamabunta was to far away for his landings to be felt. Jiraiya made everyone rest for an hour before they did anything else and Hinata introduced the Sand siblings to her new friends and explained how Kyuubi was no longer sealed inside Naruto.

(-)

The Sound forces were wrecking havoc on the defending Sand shinobi. Apparently some missing shinobi from Suna (Hidden Sand) had joined Oto (Hidden Sound) after the treaty between Suna and Konoha and were ready to guide the Sound forces through the desert to the hidden village. The Sound shinobi had slaughtered anyone attempting to exit Suna and Konoha was only informed of the attack on their ally because Gaara managed to use his sand to transport a messenger underground behind the Sound forces. Gaara had gotten himself and his siblings out the same way and they were attacking the Sound forces with hit and run tactics. Temari described the positioning of the Sound forces to the Konoha Shinobi, Kimiko, and Hiryuu while they recovered from their fights in the arena. Together, Temari and Jiraiya managed to work out an attack plan while Akemi taught Hinata how to use her kitsune abilities. The Hyuga girl learned quickly and Shippo said she learned more in the five hour journey towards Suna than he did in five years. At a certain distance from the enemy lines, the group split up and prepared for their attack.

(-)

Shippo grinned as he snuck into a tent filled with supplies for the Sound forces. The kitsune had spent his years in his mother's time learning basic chemistry with things found around the home and went straight for the large bags of flour he smelled. "Time to heat things up a little!" said Shippo with a smirk as he idly tossed a ball of foxfire onto the stack of flour bags. Now when flour is heated by itself it explodes. Shippo ran out of the tent as a giant fireball erupted behind him. "Oh yeah, that was a good one!" yelled the kitsune with a grin as he surveyed his latest work of art. A group of Sound nin quickly surrounded Shippo. Shippo's grin widened as he cracked his knuckles. "Lets dance!" he said before charging for the first nin. Shippo proceeded to warm up by beating the crud out of three Sound shinobi with his bare fists. He then covered his hands and feet with fox fire and left fist and foot shaped burns on the next group of shinobi to attack him. Finally relaxed, Shippo drew Heart's Fire and started cutting down the Sound Shinobi like they were wheat. Shippo even brought out his old top, which caused some of the sound shinobi to laugh until he made it grow to its large size and spin on their heads. Shippo was having a lot of fun, it wasn't often he could fight all out since his family moved to his mom's time and this was a great stress reliever.

(-)

"You're right Akemi, this is fun!" said Hinata as she set the pants of another sound nin on fire. The two girls had hidden themselves and were using foxfire to drive the Sound shinobi towards Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari. The girls simply created a wall of fire that chased the Sound forces right into Gaara's sand. The sand held the enemy ninja down so Kankuro's puppets and Temari's wind attacks could hit them easily. A loud explosion to the girls' left announced that Shippo had set to work.

"Hey Hinata, watch this!" exclaimed Akemi as she closed her eyes and concentrated. The giant flames caused by Shippo's pyrotechnics suddenly formed a giant dragon that flew into the air and dive bombed the Sound forces. Akemi then made the dragon appear to relieve itself in mid air on one foolish Sound nin who tried to blast it with a water jutsu. The Sound nin died a most painful death, allowing Akemi to search for her next target.

(-)

"Sankon Tessou!" yelled Kimiko as she shredded a Sound Jounin who was attempting to hit Hiryuu with some jutsu. The hanyou girl and the monk were fighting together, years of mock battles allowing them to work together easily and cover each other's weak points. Hiryuu used his staff to deflect kunai and shuriken from hitting Kimiko's back while she fought using her claws. Hiryuu occasionally hurled an ofuda that shocked the sound shinobi by giving them a huge chakra surge that was either fatal or disabling. Kimiko used her Bu-meran to keep the sound Shinobi back so she wasn't swarmed by opponents.

"You know, we could really use your father's sword right now!" exclaimed Hiryuu as he whacked a Sound nin on the head. Kimiko grunted to show she agreed but kept her eyes on her opponent. Akemi's fire dragon swooped over head and caused the Sound nin facing Kimiko to duck on instinct, leaving himself vulnerable for a minute. That minute was all Kimiko needed to shred him. The hanyou girl grinned as she sensed Rin wreaking havoc on a group of Sound shinobi a short distance away.

(-)

Rin grinned as she jumped on top of another Sound nin in her true form. The dog girl was having lots of fun romping through the battle field as a giant dog. At one point, an annoying itch behind her ear caused Rin to scratch herself. The thumping of Rin's paws caused earthquake like shocks to rock the battle field while her tail wagging as she got rid of the itch sent several Sound shinobi flying. Several ninja summoned creatures to fight Rin, including some giant snakes, but Rin plowed right through them.

(-)

After three years of being the Hokage of Konoha, Tsunade had seen some strange things. She was friends with a female kitsune that almost destroyed Konoha fifth teen years ago, had met people from another world, and seen people transform when splashed with water all within the last two weeks. But nothing beat the sight of Naruto knocking on the window of her office while holding an unconscious Sasuke, no longer trapped in Gaara's sand straight jacket, upside down while the blond fox boy stood on top of a large frog's head. Tsunade's jaw hit the top of her desk and the sake bottle in her hand broke as it hit the floor. Shizune ran into the room and saw Naruto grinning through the window while holding Sasuke. Sakura had followed Shizune, since they were in the middle of a discussion when they heard Tsunade's sake bottle hit the floor, and the pink haired girl reacted to the sight of her old team mates in a way that neither of the two older women or Naruto expected.

"Naruto, you said you would take me with you when you went after Sasuke!" yelled Sakura as she pounded on Naruto's head. "Why do you think I trained for the last three years as a medic nin? I did it so I could help you for once and not be the one being protected!"

Naruto yelped and tried to cover his abused head with his arms. "Itai! But Sakura-chan, I didn't know we'd meet the bastard in the middle of our mission. I had a hard fight with him and he almost killed Hinata-chan when she saved me! I would have brought you along if I had any idea he'd be where we were going!" exclaimed the boy. Just then, a purple blur hoped up beside Naruto.

Ino stared at her former crush and then did something that surprised everyone watching. She delivered a beautiful crescent kick to Sasuke's family jewels as she yelled, "Chouji almost died because he came after you, you bastard! How could you betray all of us? Do you know what kind of anguish you put Sakura through for the last three years?" Sasuke had almost woken up just before Ino kicked him, but he couldn't reply as he whimpered in pain. Naruto's leg snapped out as he kicked Sasuke in the head, sending the Uchiha back to la-la land.

Tsunade sighed and gave a low whistle. Almost instantly, ANBU appeared around Naruto and Sasuke. "Take Sasuke to the hospital and put him in the restricted access section. Post guards in his room and outside the door. No one is to see him without me present, understood?" said the Hokage. All the ANBU nodded and disappeared with Sasuke in a cloud of smoke. Tsunade then turned to Naruto, who had apparently decided to stand on the wall for a change. Tsunade raised one eyebrow at the blond boy's actions before asking, "Was there something else Naruto?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head and said, "Well, I kind of left the others as they were preparing to head out to attack the Sound forces so I could bring Sasuke back and I'd like to take some help back with me. We also found the last two members of Kimiko's group and I thought they would enjoy being reunited as soon as possible."

Tsunade smiled before sending a messenger for the rest of Naruto's friends and his house guests. As soon as everyone was assembled and briefed on the situation, Naruto led them to where Gamabunta waited patiently outside the village. The toad boss complained about having to carry so many people until Naruto asked if he should summon a more agreeable helper. Gamabunta stopped complaining and jumped off, his huge leaps quickly getting the reinforcements to the sight of the battle. Kiba and Akamaru's reaction to the sight of Rin romping through the battle field was hilarious, Naruto had never known that the human canine team's body reactions were linked until he noticed Kiba's pants tightening around the crotch as he caught the scent of Akamaru's interest. "Don't even think about it, she's already got a boy friend," said Miyuki with a smirk as her nose caught the pair's obvious interest in her friend's cousin. Akamaru looked heartbroken, while Kiba looked like he was coming out of a drug induced daze, Akamaru's instincts having temporarily overpowered his common sense. The six Chunin, catgirl, fox boy, alien girl, and martial artist all leaped down and plowed into the Sound forces. The Sound shinobi had already been loosing their confidence and the arrival of the reinforcements was the final blow that signaled the rapid defeat of the Sound forces.

Kiba and Akamaru tore across the battle field as a pair of twin tornadoes shredding anything in their path. Chouji was a giant ball of pure destructive power as he bowled Sound shinobi over and flattened them to the ground. A green blur was all that could be seen of Lee as he zipped around the field. Ino and Shikamaru used their family jutsu to make their opponents jump into the path of Chouji, Kiba, or Akamaru while Neji and Tenten watched over them. Tenten's kunai and shuriken struck down Sound shinobi by the dozens while Neji's Kaiten sent them flying. Swarms of Shino's bugs buzzed throughout the field, sucking the chakra from the Sound forces. But it was Naruto who scared the Sound shinobi the most. The blond shinobi tore through his opponents with Rasengan and those that saw his face before they died saw the eyes of Kyuubi staring at them just before the Rasengan hit them.

The battle was over quickly after the reinforcements arrived. The Konoha and Suna shinobi had all survived with minimal bruises and cuts. After a quick trip to Suna to report to the Kazekage, who was Gaara's old sensei Baki, that the mission was a success. The people of Suna rejoiced and threw a big festival to celebrate the end of the fighting. The Konoha shinobi and their friends stayed in Suna for two more days to relax and allow Naruto to help Hinata deal with any issues Akemi and Shippo had missed in using her kitsune abilities. Hinata's new senses had given her a much better grasp of what she saw with her Byakugan, allowing her to smell and hear everything she could see now, making it easier to spot foes. Hinata's strength also increased, giving here the relative strength and speed Lee had at the time of their first Chunin Exam with his weights on. Naruto gave Hinata some of his old weights to help get her closer to his level. In a sparing session against Neji, Hinata was surprised to find that she actually managed to keep up with her cousin. She couldn't quite beat him yet, but Neji claimed that soon she would surpass him if she kept improving at her current rate and become the most powerful Hyuga in the village. All of Hinata's friends were happy for her and Hinata was eager to return to Konoha and show Tsunade how much she had improved.

(-)

Finally, the Konoha shinobi and their friends had to depart from Suna. Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro saw them off. Naruto surprised everyone but Jiraiya by turning into a giant golden fox with nine tails and a Konoha Hitai-ate on his head. Jiraiya found out the hard way that a giant fox's tail really hurts when it is used to smack you off the fox after you make a rude comment to that fox's fiancée. The toad hermit was forced to summon a toad to catch up to his transformed student and then had to dodge a bunch of fireballs courtesy of Hinata and Akemi. The pervert hermit sulked for the rest of the trip and didn't talk to anyone and ignored what was happening on Naruto's back. Which was good, considering that Naruto made a Bushin to keep Hinata company and she had fallen asleep against the Bushin while Tenten let Neji use her lap as a pillow. Akemi was joking with Kiba, Chouji, Kimiko, Ryeka, Miyuki, and Akira while Shikamaru stared at the clouds moving by. Shippo and Rin were indulging in a heavy make out session after being stuck in their cages for a week within sight of each other but not able to touch. Hiryuu and Shino just sat quietly and listened to Sakura and Ino argue over who had the better method (Read: most agonizing and painful) to take out an enemy. The journey went quickly with only a single stop, Naruto had to relieve himself and watered a nice patch of forest, to the amusement of Kiba and Akamaru. Naruto's cheeks were noticeably red under his gold fur, something Kiba teased him about until Naruto threatened to knock the Inuzuka boy off his back with a tail.

(-)

As Naruto approached Konoha he could see many shinobi staring at him and grinned. Even though he had changed a lot, Naruto still liked to be acknowledged by people. Naruto noticed, with much amusement, that his eyes were level with the guards on top of the wall and he could see sweat dripping off them as they fought their instincts to run and hide. Naruto reached around with one of his tails and gently knocked on the village gate. The whole group was forced to wait until Tsunade arrived to enter Konoha because the guards were so scared they wouldn't budge to open the gates until Tsunade gave her approval. Naruto trotted through the gates happily before bending down to let his friends and fiancé slide down to the ground. Naruto then shifted back to his human form and stretched to get the kinks out of his back and arms. "Well, I guess we have to give the old hag the mission report," said Naruto with a yawn, not realizing Tsunade had appeared behind him and heard his comment.

Tsunade scowled and brought her fist down at Naruto's head, only to have a cloud of smoke obscure her target. "Kage Bushin?" exclaimed Tsunade. The smoke cleared to reveal Jiraiya face down in the ground with the imprint of Tsunade's fist on his head. "Kawarimi!" exclaimed Tsunade with a grin that she managed to hit the old pervert for no reason and not feel guilty.

Naruto's voice behind her caused Tsunade to turn around and see Naruto standing beside Hinata and Akemi with a huge grin on his face. "I knew you were there and would hit me, the old pervert deserved it for making a rude joke about my relationship with Hinata-chan! Speaking of which, we have a few things to tell you," said Naruto. Tsunade nodded and lead the way to her office. She spent the next hour and a half listening to Naruto tell about infiltrating the ruins while Akemi explained how her group found Rin and Shippo. The encounter with Sasuke was the next topic of discussion, Hinata telling what she had seen and the details of her brief fight with the level two curse seal Sasuke. Tsunade almost had a heart attack when Hinata said Sasuke's Chidori had pierced her and Naruto hastily told Tsunade how he kicked Sasuke's ass and saved Hinata's life. Tsunade sighed and asked Hinata to reveal her fox features. The Hokage smiled at the sight of the blue fox ears and tails and told Naruto that she wasn't mad at him for acting as he had to save Hinata. "So can we go now Tsunade-ne-chan?" asked Naruto.

Tsunade nodded and picked up the report she had been reading on Sasuke's condition before she went to meet Naruto at the gates. Naruto helped Hinata up and took her arm in his to lead her out of the office with Akemi following behind them. "Come on, I told the others we would meet them at the house," said Naruto as the trio exited the building. The walk to the Uzumaki residence passed quickly and all three could smell the scent of their friends waiting for them.

Kyuubi burst out of the door to the house and swept all three of the teens into a hug. "Kimiko and Hiryuu explained everything to me, I'm so glad you're safe Hinata. You've become like a second daughter to me and I'm so happy Naruto performed the bonding ritual to save you and make you a true member of our family! You must be starving, come in and I'll get you something to eat!" said the kitsune woman with a huge smile as she released the three teens.

As Naruto entered the house, his nose easily detected the scent of the most glorius food known to man. "Ramen!" yelled Naruto before turning into an orange and blond blur as he ran into the kitchen to find Kimiko stirring a huge pot of ramen noodles. Naruto started drooling at the sight of all the ramen and Kimiko whirled around to glare at him.

"Oh no, these are **_MY_** ramen noodles! I bought them while you where talking to Tsunade-sama and I'm cooking them for me!" exclaimed Kimiko.

"Come on Kimiko, just one bowl…"

"NO! Make your own!"

"But then I'll have to wait for the water to boil and the three minutes for the noodles to cook!"

"Tough, you aren't getting any of my ramen!" yelled Kimiko, not noticing her eyes were turning red and her claws were growing longer.

Naruto was to angry to notice the change in Kimiko's scent and appearance. The blond shinobi was about to open his mouth when Shippo's voice caught his attention. "I wouldn't Naruto, Kimiko's first words were 'Ramen Mine!' and she doesn't like people stealing it from her. Just back away from the noodles slowly otherwise she'll attack you. Her youkai blood is starting to take over and she doesn't know what she is doing," said Shippo as he leaned against the kitchen doorway's frame.

Naruto gulped as he took in the angry Kimiko guarding the pot of noodles and hissing "My precioouuuuuuusssssss," much like Gollum from The Lord of the Rings.

Shippo sighed and yelled, "Rin, could you talk some sense into Kimiko, you're the only one she'll listen to when she is in Gollum ramen mode!" Rin sighed and got up from where she had just gotten comfortable on the couch to calm her cousin. Shippo exited the kitchen to find Hinata squirming on a stool as Sakura, Ino, Tenten, and Akemi styled her hair and held articles of clothing up to her to check how they went with her new look.

Apparently the blood transfusion Naruto gave Hinata took a few days to complete its work. Hinata's hair was longer and smoother now with a natural shine that had the other girls gritting their teeth in jealousy. Hinata's body had also grown more fit, what little excess fat she had had rapidly disappeared and her muscles were nicely defined, but not obvious, while her figure would make Jiraiya and Kakashi stare for hours if they had been there. Hinata had grown about an inch, putting her two inches below Naruto's height, and making most of her clothes no longer fit, hence the decision of the other girls to check what would look good for her new wardrobe.

Kyuubi suddenly swept into the gathering around Hinata and stopped the other girls from turning the lavender eyed girl into a living doll. "I know you girls mean well, but I have something that Hinata will find more useful," said Kyuubi as she pulled what looked like a red T-shirt and pair of red shorts from behind her back. "These clothes are made from some of my tail hairs and have the ability to change into whatever type and color of clothing their wearer wishes. In addition, kitsune fur is able to withstand all but the most powerful katon jutsu. It is also fairly water proof and dries quickly. Naruto's clothes are also made from my hair and that has saved his life a few times because of its protective abilities. Go ahead and try these on Hinata, you just have to picture what you want them to look like and they'll change their shape to suit your imagination."

Hinata grabbed the fox fur garments and darted into her room upstairs. A few minutes later, Hinata walked downstairs and everyone took a good look at her new outfit. A purple vest with the Hyuga crest on the back and shoulders covered a grey T-shirt, under which a net shirt went down to her wrists. Surprise additions were arm guards like ANBU members wore on her lower arms. A pair of blue cargo shorts covered the tops of Hinata's legs while bandages covered the rest as well as shin guards like Anko's Hinata wore her forehead protector around her neck again, using it to keep her longer hair back and harder for an opponent to grab. A shuriken and kunai holster on each leg showed Hinata was ready for action, while her supply pouch rested on her waist within easy reach. Naruto gave an appreciative whistle, which caused Hinata to blush, while all the others stared in shock to see Hinata in such a revealing outfit. Neji hid his surprise and smirked. "Hinata, your father would have a fit if he saw you dressed like that. I'm glad you're no longer living in the main family house or he would most likely be foaming at the mouth." Hinata giggled at the mental image of her father foaming at the mouth and calmly sat down on Naruto's lap and wrapped her arms around him. Naruto blushed and Kiba, Shippo, Kyuubi, Hinata, and Akemi could smell his reaction to Hinata being so close, causing them to grin.

Before anyone could say anything, a hole seemed to open in midair in the middle of the room. Everyone stared at the hole in shock, you could actually see Shino's mouth hanging open and a slight raising of his eyebrows showed how large his eyeballs had become. "What the hell is that?" yelled Neji as he pushed Tenten behind him incase he needed to use Kaiten to deflect an attack. Kimiko and Rin ran into the room in time to see a bunch of shapes appear in the hole and suddenly hit the floor with a loud THUMP. Miyuki, Hiryuu, Akira, Ryeka, Shippo, Rin, and Kimiko stared at the things in disbelief. They were staring at….

**And that is the end of this chapter. Expect the next one in two weeks, but college might delay my writing time. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, read and review!**


	6. Phone Home & Relaxation

**Roar of the Dragon: I found some great news this week, Naruto will be airing on Cartoon Networks Tsunami this summer! If I was of a legal age to drink, I'd break out the champagne to celebrate. I hope you enjoy this chapter, the ending took awhile to write.**

_Review Responses: aww, not so many. I'm a sad dragon, I need reviews to inspire me._

_xAkix: No, it hasn't been a month, at least in story time. I'd say two weeks max has passed. Kimiko and Hiryuu will be getting some help with their currently non-existant relationship soon… (opens door to show Ino cackling over a cauldron labeled Love Potion) I'd say Sango threatened the Hentai monk with no nightly entertainment if Hiryuu became a pervert. By the way, Tenten says she is willing to share Neji between chapters, so you get him at the end of this chapter and she gets him at the start of the next one._

_Story Weaver1: Is the anime coming out this summer an okay alternative to DVD's?Glad you loved the fluff and humor, I aim to please! _

_Justforkicks: Thank you for your input, I'll take your votes into consideration. Here is the next chapter._

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Inuyasha, Ranma 1/2, Oh my Goddess, or Tenchi Muyo. If I did I would have a PS2, a Game cube, and an X-box and never have to worry about putting in this disclaimer.**

**Warning: This chapter and possibly the next one will contain bits of Shoujo-ai, meaning girl x girl love. However, this will be Naruto in his female form and Hinata and will only be a way of showing that their love transcends all barriers and forms.**

Everyone stared at the pile of backpacks that had tumbled out of the whole in the air. Shippo was the first one to overcome his shock and examine the bags closely. "Hey, these are the bags we left behind when we went to investigate that weird meteor. I guess Inuyasha got them for us! I was wishing I had my manga collection!" yelled Shippo as he grabbed his bag and confirmed it still had everything he had packed in it. The others quickly grabbed their bags and found that, aside from a few perishables, everything was still there. Kimiko happily fed Flamie one of her special rice balls while Rin pulled all her spare daggers from her bag and strapped them in place. All the Konoha shinobi stared at the amount of stuff their friends pulled from the bags.

Ryeka found a strange cube shaped device in her bag that she didn't recognize and examined it. Finding a button with the words 'push me' written on it in Juraian, the alien girl did as instructed. Her grandmother's face appeared one side of the cube and started speaking. "Ryeka, if you are seeing this then our test of the dimensional transport worked and you received your bags. This device will have transmitted your location to our machine so we can finish calibrating the device to bring you all back here alive and happy. We will then establish a permanent link to the universe you are currently in if you have made friends there and wish to visit them later. Shippo, Rin, your parents want me to remind you that just because they aren't around doesn't mean you can go any farther than kissing and cuddling," said the recording of Washu. Everyone grabbed their bag and headed towards their room to put their stuff in drawers, with Kyuubi showing Shippo and Rin the room they would share. Shippo came back downstairs with a large number of manga in his arms to catch up on his reading.

One of Shippo's manga books slipped out of his grasp and landed by Lee's feet. The green clad boy picked up the book and his eyes widened in shock. "Na…Naruto-kun, you should see this!" he said. Naruto darted over to peer over Lee's shoulder and found himself staring at the cover of Naruto volume 1.

"Oops, forgot I had that in my bag," said Shippo as all the Konoha shinobi crowded around to read the manga. By the time they were finished, Sakura was yelling that the manga made her look like an evil psychopath, Naruto was grinning because his name was the title for the series, and all the other shinobi were laughing at how Naruto beat Mizuki and tried to get a kiss out of Sakura while disguised as Sasuke, (Though Sakura and Hinata both hit him for that). Shippo had brought all twenty eight volumes of Naruto with him, so the Konoha nins enjoyed reading about Naruto's early adventures, except for Kyuubi, who was disgusted with the way she was portrayed as a bloodthirsty monster. While she could get protective of her kits, she hated the way she was drawn. Some parts of the story made all the shinobi feel uncomfortable, like Neji's fight with Hinata, Sasuke's flashbacks during his fight with Naruto, and the return of the Konoha five without Sasuke. But other parts cheered them up, seeing Team 7 defeat Zabuza, the Chunin exam, Naruto learning Rasengan, and the return of Naruto to Konoha with Kimiko, Hiryuu, and Miyuki. Unfortuneatly, Volume 28 finished with the group returning to Konoha from their battle with the Sound forces and they had no idea what would happen next. Naruto's stomach growled and reminded everyone that it was time to eat. Kyuubi sent the boys to the store for some groceries since they had two more people to feed and started gathering the materials for a large lunch. Each of the girls made a particular dish for the meal. Kyuubi was making mandarin chicken, Sakura had chosen to prepare miso soup, Ino was slicing beef for sukiyaki (meat dish), Tenten was working on yakitori (skewered barbecued chicken), and Hinata and Akemi were making home made ramen. Kimiko had started making more of her meat onigirii with Myuki's help while Ryeka and Rin made a large amount of rice. As the boys brought in the groceries they were relieved of their burdens and forced to exit the womens' domain, mainly so Naruto and Chouji wouldn't steal food, and occupy the living room. Shippo started telling the story of the Shikon Jewel and kept everyone's attention occupied until the meal was ready. When Kiba interrupted Shippo at one point, the kitsune dubbed him dog boy and said if he wasn't quiet he'd see Kimiko about a subduing spell for him. The look on Kiba's face had even Shino and Neji laughing as the Inuzaka boy leapt behind the couch and stared at Shippo like he was a giant dog he didn't want to piss off.

Chouji started crying when he saw the wonderful lunch the girls had prepared for everyone, all the dishes were spread out on the table and there were several dishes of each so everyone could try a little bit of everything. All of Naruto's friends were surprised to see him eating something besides ramen until Kyuubi explained that she had forced him to adapt a better diet during the past three years so he didn't get a huge cholesterol buildup and die young. Naruto admitted that he liked a few things besides ramen, but he would still do his best to eat three bowls of ramen each day, which had everyone laughing, even Shino. When the meal was done, a hoard of Naruto bushins cleared the table and brought the dirty dishes to the sink where Naruto and Hinata washed them.

In the living room, Kimiko had dug out her CD player and was listening to a Shania Twain CD. When Akemi asked the hanyou girl about the CD, Kimiko eagerly put it in the large CD player Kyuubi had purchased the previous week for the house while Naruto had been on the mission to escort Akira and Ryeka. The kitsune woman had gotten a nice big TV for watching movies as a family, a DVD player, the CD player, and a good stereo system for the living room. The sounds of Shania's UP filled the room, causing all the Konoha shinobi to jump in surprise. They quickly got used to the beat and Hinata could be heard singing along to the lyrics in the kitchen as she washed the dishes with Naruto. Kimiko, Ryeka, and Miyuki had started singing right from the start, with Rin just a bit behind them. Soon all the girls were singing along and the sounds of happy voices filled the house that had been empty for so many years.

A sudden beeping caught everyone's attention and they looked for the source of the noise. Ryeka soon found the strange cube that had contained her grandmother's message had grown a bit bigger and unfolded to show a screen flanked by two speakers. Washu's adult form stared out of the screen, the look of irritation on her face fading as she saw Ryeka. "Good, I was wondering when you would hear my call Ryeka. I see you've made some friends already and everyone is safe," said Washu. Ryeka smiled at her grandmother while her Konoha friends stared at Washu's communicator with fascination. "Hi obaasan! It's good to see you to!" said Ryeka. Washu smiled then got pushed to the side as Ryoko shoved her face in front of the screen. "Ryeka Masaki, you had better have a good reason for going to investigate that meteor without an adult being present!" yelled Ryoko. Akane then pushed Ryoko's head down so she could yell at Miyuki and Akira. "I expected better from the two of you! Didn't I teach you to think with your head and not your muscles like your father used to?" yelled the blue haired woman. Miyuki's ears drooped and she winced as her mother's voice, made louder by years of yelling out instructions to students, hit the sensitive furry appendages. Kagome and Sango then pushed Akane and Ryoko down so their faces were in the bottom of the screen and started lashing out at their children. "Shippo, I am very disappointed with you! I thought you had more sense than this! How dare you bring your sister into such a dangerous situation! And Kimiko, I thought you had more sense than to go near strange glowing objects!" Sango's glare would have stopped the old Mirouku from making a move on any girl as she locked her gaze on Hiryuu. "Hiryuu, was all my training as a Taijiya taught you nothing? I've told you before to always observe your targets before engaging them so your know what they can do!" All six of the scolded children where hanging their heads while Kimiko and Miyuki's ears were laid flat against their heads. Shippo, Kimiko, and Miyuki's tails were all limp on the ground. Rin was glad Lina was in the feudal era and couldn't scold her. The youkai girl's relief didn't last long as a chibi Lina popped up in between and in front of Ryoko and Akane's faces. "Rin, I expected you to be the voice of caution in the group! Your father and I are very disappointed that you didn't send Jaken to inform us of the meteor immediately and make the group observe it until we arrived!" Now all seven teens were groveling while the Konoha shinobi looked on in surprise. They new just how strong their new friends were, so seeing them so submissive was kind of scary. Washu suddenly managed to push the five angry mothers off her and reclaim the screen. "All right, I need to talk to a responsible adult about the situation," said the red haired scientist. Kyuubi stepped forward and bowed slightly, Ryeka had told a few stories about Washu and Kyuubi respected anyone who could outthink Shikamaru.

"Konnichi wa, I am Uzumaki Kyuubi. Your granddaughter and her friends are currently staying at our house and have helped us on several occasions," said Kyuubi. Washu smiled upon hearing that and everyone could faintly hear the moms in the background being restrained by their husband/mate from fighting over the communicator and ask what the kids had done. "We'll need a few more weeks to make sure everything is ready to bring the kids back, but if you'd like they can stay longer then that," said Washu. Kyuubi glanced at the group of human, youkai, hanyou, and alien kids and saw ten pairs of puppy eyes begging to stay since Flamie, Kudora, and Ren-oh-ki had joined in the effort. "I'd be happy to have them stay longer; this house has been empty of life until they came here with my son and me after his three year training journey." The grown ups had a brief huddle to discuss the situation and a few minutes later Washu was talking again. "Okay, you guys can stay for the rest of the summer, but you'll need to keep up your training the whole time. It looks like you'll have plenty of sparing partners," said Washu as she took in the eager looks on Naruto, Kiba, Lee, and Neji's faces. Kimiko grinned as she gave Hinata and Akemi a high five before turning serious. "Oka-san, I'm afraid we might have a slight problem," said the hanyou girl as she pulled out the Shikon no Tama. Kagome's face paled and Inuyasha's mouth started to open to let out many colorful words before Kagome yelled "Sit! No swearing in front of the children! Tadao, Isamu, and Mitsukai (Kimiko's little brother, Rin's little brother and sister) are in the next room with Kilala! We don't want them picking up your bad language! Kimiko when did the jewel appear?" Kimiko quickly explained about the second fight with Itachi and the jewel popping out of her side. Kagome muttered something about history repeating itself and told Kimiko to protect the jewel. Kimiko nodded and everyone said their goodbyes.

The rest of the afternoon passed quickly, mainly because Kagome had packed some good movies in Kimiko's bag so they would have something to watch with their new friends. The Konoha shinobi enjoyed the three Star Wars Special Edition movies and Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail. The next day was spent watching the entire Matrix trilogy, which had all the Konoha shinobi commenting on how such and such a person had done an even better version of that move, and how they could have killed the guy with one move and still avoided all the bullets. Still, they enjoyed the fight scenes, especially Neo vs. the horde of Agent Smiths. Naruto had everyone cracking up by using Henge to give himself a suit, tie, and sunglasses like Smith and making a few clones before saying, "Mr. Anderson, how nice to see you again. We missed you." Hinata hadn't laughed so much since seeing Sasuke's boxers and reaction to Death by Fan girls. When Jiraiya showed up with the latest Icha Icha Paradise DVD and offered to let them watch it, Naruto started chasing the senin around the house with Zabuza's sword, loudly declaring he would slice off the super pervert's manhood and make the world safe for girls to bathe in peace without the fear of being spied on. The perverted hermit managed to stay ahead of Naruto until Naruto mentioned that he even looked at teenage girls. After that comment, Sakura gathered chakra into her fist and delivered a Tsunade strength punch to Jiraiya's groin. As the Toad senin collapsed to his hands and knees, Akemi and Hinata burned his DVD while Ino and Tenten advanced on Jiraiya with killing intent. Jiraiya opened his eyes to see Ino's fist heading towards his nose and Tenten's kunai pinning him to the wall. Ino's fist broke Jiraiya's nose and then Kyuubi's trusty frying pan hit the top of his head and sent the pervert into la-la land. Ryeka and Miyuki brought out markers and started to beautify Jiraiya's face while Rin grabbed some instant Spring of Drowned Girl. Shippo started cracking up as he saw Rin mixing the water in a pitcher and Akira told the Konoha shinobi about the instant spring mixes and which one Rin was using. Naruto started cracking up, saying the old pervert would probably do all sorts of Hentai things when he figured out that he was now a she. When Hinata threatened Naruto with the pitcher, the blond transformed into his female fox human hybrid form and grinned at Hinata. "Sorry Hinata-chan, but I was stuck like this for a few weeks when I first merged partially with Oka-san. I'm as comfortable in this body as I am in my normal one!" said the blond fox girl.

Hinata pouted before a mischievous smirk appeared on her face. "Then I dare you to stay in that form for a week!" said the Hyuga girl.

Naruto blinked at hi…um her fiancé, before grinning again and saying, "Fine, but you have to call me Naruko-chan for the whole week! And I might revert back to normal if I have a nightmare or drain all my chakra." Hinata nodded, accepting the terms and sealed the deal with a kiss on the lips. Naruko kissed Hinata back with equal force, only stopping when Kiba made a comment about bitches in heat humping each other. "Kiba, you have five seconds until I use my most painful jutsu on you!" yelled Naruko as she gently disengaged from Hinata and stood up, flames flaring around her. Kiba let out an EEP and took off for the front door. Naruko yelled, "1…2…5!" and took off with a grin as her friends yelled "Three Sir!"

Naruko easily caught up to Kiba as he tried to get out the front door. The poor dog boy started panicking and finally managed to open the door. However, he barely got three steps outside before he heard Naruko yell "Sennen Goroshi (1000 years of pain)!" and felt something jab him really hard in the ass. Kiba flew into the air yelling in pain as Naruko fell to her hands and knees laughing. Naruko became aware of a chakra signature behind and above her position and whipped around as a voice said, "Yo!"

Naruko yelled "Kakashi-sense!" and leapt up to glomp (tackle hug) her former teacher where he sat on the roof above the front door. Sakura heard Naruko's yell and ran out of the house and jumped up to join the two above the door. "Where have you been Kakashi-sensei?" exclaimed Naruko.

Kakashi's visible eye turned into an upside down U as he smiled through his mask. "I've been on an A-class mission or I would have been here to greet you upon your return Naruto," said the famous copy ninja.

Naruko pouted slightly and asked, "Did you know about my father being your old sensei?" Kakashi flinched slightly and closed his beloved Icha Icha Violence after folding a corner to mark his place.

"Yes, that is one reason I was your Jounin instructor, since I was one of the few senior shinobi that bore you no ill will. I'm sorry I never told you before, but your father told me to keep it a secret," replied the masked shinobi quietly.

Naruko sighed and asked, "What was my father like when he was your sensei?" since she was eager to learn of her father through the eyes of his student.

Kakashi smiled fondly and said, "Toshiro-sensei was a kind man and a great teacher. He was known as Konoha's Yellow Flash when he was my sensei because of his use of the Shunshin No Jutsu (Body Flicker), which allowed him to move so fast all his opponents could see was a yellow flash. Like you, he was devoted to Konoha and would give his life for the village and his comrades. He gave me this special kunai when I first became a Jounin, this special type of kunai was one he made himself and there are very few of them left." Kakashi said this last part as he pulled out a kunai with that had two small side blades where the main blade joined the handle. A small scroll was wrapped around the handle with some markings showing on the outside. Kakashi spun the kunai idly on one finger as he said, "The markings on this kunai are special type of jutsu that alerted your father when it flies. So throwing it was like lighting a beacon that allowed him to find you. I've always hunted this down after I use it and it is one of my few good reminders of my past."

Naruko held out her hand as a way of asking permission and Kakashi placed the kunai in her hand. The blond girl looked at the weapon from all angles before frowning. "I smell a scent similar to mine on here, I'm guessing it is my dad's. But how could his scent last all these years?" asked the girl. Kakshi's visible eyebrow shot up at this revelation as he pondered possible explanations.

Sakura, who had been silent so far through the conversation, now spoke up. "Maybe Yondaime-sama had to put some of his chakra in the kunai to make the jutsu work. Kiba has said that a person's chakra smells just like their normal scent except a little bit fainter. Remember when he said Akamaru always smelled a fox whenever you used Kyuubi-san's chakra Naruko-chan?"

Naruko nodded, while Kakashi ruffled the blond's hair. "Tsunade told me about the latest developments with Kyuubi, I'm glad I finally got to learn the truth of what happened that day. Could I please speak to Kyuubi-san?" said Kakashi. Naruko nodded and the three remaining members of Team Seven jumped down off the roof and walked inside.

Kyuubi greeted the three members of Team Seven at the door. "Irrashai Kakashi-sensei. It is a pleasure to finally meet you face to face. There are several things I wish to discuss with you…" said Kyuubi with a smile that caused Kakashi to gulp slightly. Kyuubi wasn't radiating killing intent but he could tell she was annoyed at him for something and he had a good guess about what it was. Kyuubi led the silver haired Jounin into the kitchen while Naruko and Sakura rejoined their friends in the living room so Naruko could show them her father's special kunai. Tenten in particular was interested in the kunai, checking its weight, balance, sharpness, grip, and strength and explaining to everyone how those characteristics differed from a normal kunai. Naruko and Kiba started to get a glazed look halfway through her lecture and would have nodded off unless Hinata had given them a small jab with a kunai in the back to keep them awake and prevent Tenten from having a reason to pin them to the wall with kunai and shuriken.

(-)

"What do you wish to discuss Kyuubi-san?" asked Kakashi as Kyuubi poured him a cup of tea and then one for herself. Kyuubi sat down and took a sip of her tea before sighing and facing Kakashi.

"First of all, I want to thank you for not treating Naruto like he was a living bomb because of me. You were the third adult after Iruka and old Sarutobi to see past my shadow and see the lonely little boy looking for acceptance. However, I am disappointed that you left him in Ebisu's care before the third part of the Chunin Exam in favor of training Sasuke. You essentially destroyed your team right then, since Jiraiya taught Naruto how to tap into my chakra and later the Rasengan, which made Sasuke go crazy for power after he saw how strong Naruto had become. That power hungry boy almost killed my kit with the jutsu you taught him. You now have another chance to teach Sasuke that he can grow stronger here in Konoha," said Kyuubi. Kakashi nodded, having berated himself many times over the past three years that he had failed to make Sasuke into a good shinobi. Kyuubi smiled softly and poured more tea into Kakashi's cup, which he had somehow managed to drink without letting her see under his mask. :The paralysis powder should kick in any second now: thought the kitsune woman, eager to see what Kakashi's face looked like after watching all of Naruto's attempts to sneak a peek. Kakashi's mug was suddenly empty and Kyuubi barely hid her grin by biting her tongue.

"So how does it feel to be in a real body again?" asked Kakashi. Kyuubi tilted her head to the side for a moment to consider the question, never taking her eyes off Kakashi.

"It is like I have been locked in a dark room for the last fifth teen years and suddenly a door was opened that let light poor into the room. I have enjoyed these last two weeks with my kits more than any other time in my life. But there is one thing I vowed to do if I ever got my own body and Naruto hadn't succeed in fulfilling this ambition. Do you know what that is Kakashi-san?" said Kyuubi. Kakashi shook his head slightly and Kyuubi's grin became so wide it looked like her face would break in two, causing Kakashi to feel nervous. "I want to see what is under that mask you always wear!" Kakashi's eye widened and he attempted to leap away, only to find his body wouldn't move. "Isn't paralysis powder amazing?" said Kyuubi with a smirk. The kitsune woman reached up and pulled Kakashi's mask and the several duplicates beneath it off so she could see his face. "No wonder you hide your face, you must have had fan girls after you 24/7 when you were younger! Now I promise I'll never tell anyone what I've seen," said Kyuubi.

Kakashi angrily pulled his mask back up to cover his face and quickly made a series of seals for a memory erasing jutsu. "Nougomu (memory eraser)no jutsu!" said Kakashi as he attempted to force his way into Kyuubi's mind and erase the memory of what his face looked like. Kakashi managed to enter Kyuubi's mind, only to bump into Kyuubi's fox form, which towered above him even though she was lying down with her legs crossed beneath body. Kakashi could only stare, awed at the beauty and power that Kyuubi seemed to wear as a second skin.

"Sorry Kakashi-san, but I don't think you can overpower my mind," said Kyuubi as she gently nudged him with her nose before shrinking down to human form and grinning at the masked Jounin. "Never attempt to infiltrate Naruto's mind either, a small bit of my consciousness is sleeping inside him ready to fight off any mind control jutsu, like the Yamanka family's Shintenshin no Jutsu and Orochimaru's curse seal." Kakashi sighed, it looked like Kyuubi had got him hook line and sinker. Kyuubi smiled and sat down beside Kakashi, who suddenly realized that they were on a grassy hill with a large tree at the top. Kyuubi was leaning back against the tree and Kakashi decided he might as well sit down as well. Kyuubi smiled and asked, "What do you think of my mindscape Kakashi?"

Kakashi surveyed the scenery and smiled. "It is beautiful Kyuubi-san, but the real beauty is sitting right next to me!" Kyuubi giggled and her tails moved to block all of her from sight except her eyes, which twinkled as the peered at the Jounin from behind the tails. Kakashi smiled and reached down to grab his Icha Icha paradise, only to have one of Kyuubi's tails grab the book and toss it aside. Kakashi started to sulk, but stiffened as Kyuubi leaned against him slightly, her soft breathing indicating she was asleep. "Now how do I get out of here?" Kakashi asked the surrounding scenery. Not surprisingly, he didn't get an answer. Kyuubi's gentle breathing and the peace of the surrounding area soon had Kakashi falling asleep to.

(-)

While Kakashi and Kyuubi were talking, the teens had retired to the backyard, leaving an unconscious Jiraiya pinned to the living room wall, to enjoy the sun by the lake/pool. The sight of Naruko in a swimsuit had almost caused Hinata to have a nosebleed, though Naruko had passed out due to blood loss when she first saw Hinata in her swim suit. Kimiko's group was teaching their Konoha friends how to play volley ball in the pool with a large beach ball Shippo had packed to fun during their trip. The shinobi quickly grasped the concept, though Kiba had to be careful to not pop the ball with his claws until Sakura suggested reinforcing the ball with chakra. Shikamaru was sitting on the poolside with Chouji and Shino, keeping score, since Shino and he didn't feel like swimming and Chouji was eating. Ino and Sakura had abandoned the game in favor of working on their tans, leaving a reasonably fair set of teams, with Kimiko's group on one side and the Konoha shinobi on the other. Everyone had a great time, except for when Shino got hit in the face due to a spike from Ryeka. As everyone crowded around Shino to make sure he was all right they gasped, and the bug user realized his sunglasses had been knocked off and his eyes were visible. Everyone stared at the green compound eyes that Shino had hidden for fear of being called Bug Eye as a little kid. Naruko broke the ice by ooohiing and then everyone started asking questions, like if Shino could see 360 degrees around him, if he saw everything as multiple little images of the same thing, and if this was how all his family's eyes looked or had he mastered a particular part of their bloodline. Shino was some what hesitant at first, but he slowly started answering the questions. It turned out that Shino had developed a facet of the Aburame bloodline that had been thought lost many generations ago. The compound eyes were a minor part of the bloodline, but they allowed a complete 360 degree sight around Shino, unlike Neji and Hinata's Byakugan, which had a small blind spot. The more interesting aspect was that Shino had gained the ability to establish a sort of 'hive mind' with his comrades that allowed them to communicate mentally and made it easy for him to coordinate missions in the field.

Naruko made a joke about how Konoha was turning into a regular half human half animal zoo. "We have cat people, dog people, fox people, and now bug people! Soon there won't be any normal humans left in Konoha!" Hinata giggled at the joke, knowing that if Naruto and she had any kids they would most likely be half kitsune also and the genes would continue for a long time. The same would be true for any kids Akemi might have in the future. Hinata smiled as she pictured a future Konoha where everyone had a small bit of kitsune blood inside them and Naruto was remembered as the Hokage who led Konoha into a golden age of prosperity. Naruko suddenly pulled Hinata into the water, initiating a huge free for all water fight. Hinata, Naruko, Kimiko, and Akemi had a huge advantage because of their tails and used them to send huge waves at the others. However, Neji found that Kaiten in the water sends waves everywhere, resulting in everyone getting hit by huge waves. Akira was using the Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken to send rapid fire bursts of water at Miyuki, who managed to avoid some of the blasts and let them hit Hiryuu's face. Tenten, Ino, Sakura, and Ryeka snuck out of the pool and filled a large tub with water balloons, which soon prompted a water balloon war with alliances changing every five seconds. Naruko surprised everyone by using a suiton jutsu that acted like Katon Housenka, and sent multiple water spheres at whoever Naruko was aiming at. Kiba countered with Kage Water Balloon no Jutsu and had Naruko running for cover until Hinata used Kaiten to deflect the balloons. After that it turned into guys vs. girls until everyone was exhausted and collapsed all over the yard.

(-)

Meanwhile, Kyuubi had awakened from her short nap and used the Nougomu no jutsu on Kakashi to make him forget she saw her face and think the whole thing was a dream. Kyuubi then looked outside and saw the exhausted teens lying down after their water balloon fight. Kyuubi smiled and was about to go check on her kits' conditions when a knock on the door caught her attention. At the same time, Hinata recovered and heard the knocking with her kitsune ears. Without a thought the Hyuga girl ran to the front door and opened it to see her little sister Hanabi standing in front of her with the remains of a water balloon on her head and an annoyed expression on her face. Hinata took one look at her sister and collapsed to her hands and knees laughing. "Hanabi-chan, you look ridiculous!" she managed to get out. Hanabi tried to restrain herself, but she caught sight of herself in a nearby window and started giggling with her sister. Hinata pulled Hanabi inside and dried her sister's hair and put Hanabi's clothes in the dryer after giving her a large T-shirt to wear until they were ready. Hanabi was staring at Hinata's fox ears and tails in surprise and finally gathered up the courage to ask about them.

"Hinata-ne-san, why do you have fox ears and tails?" asked Hanabi. Hinata stared at her sister in surprise for a second before realizing that in her rush to get the door she had neglected to hide her fox features.

"How about I get you a snack and explain while you eat?" suggested Hinata. Hanabi nodded, sensing that Hinata wanted them to act like normal sisters for a change. Hanabi soon had a large glass of milk and a plate of cookies in front of her and was listening wide eyed to Hinata's story about the recent events since Naruto's return. When Hinata was done, Hanabi lowered her head and thought over what she had learned. Hanabi was impressed by how much stronger Hinata had become and looked up to see Hinata nervously watching her. Hanabi realized that in the last three years she had grown closer to Hinata and didn't want to lose the source of stability Hinata had become for her.

Walking up to Hinata, Hanabi embraced her sister and said, "I am happy for you Ne-san, and I think you look cool!" Kyuubi had been listening from the next room with Kakashi, who had woken up half way through the journey to get Akira and Ryeka, and now entered the kitchen to start work on dinner with the other girls. Hanabi was invited to stay for dinner and accepted, much to Hinata's delight. Hanabi watched the girls create a feast for everyone with excitement, since she had never watched the cooks in the Hyuga manor before. The speed at which vegetables and meat were chopped amazed Hanabi and the smells and samples she was treated to soon had her vowing to come over more often. Dinner was a pleasant experience, with Naruko telling Hanabi about her adventures and how Hinata had saved her life. Hanabi had been startled by Naruko's appearance but after hearing of the bet she had asked Naruko if she had ever had a period with a straight face. The question had Naruko spraying her last mouth full of water all over Neji, who glared at Hanabi and Naruto while Tenten cleaned him up. Chouji actually started to choke on a rice ball and it was only because Shikamaru managed to use the Heimlich maneuver on him that the Akimichi heir lived through the night. Naruko glared at Hanabi but couldn't keep it up and finally started pounding the table as she laughed.

(-)

After dinner, the boys washed all the dishes and dried them before everyone started heading home. Hinata, Neji, and Naruko, using a Henge to look like Naruto so Hiashi didn't think Hinata was a lesbian and have a seizure, walked over to the Hyuga house with Hanabi to request permission for her to spend the night with her sister. All four of them ignored the looks Naruto received from the members of the Main House that they passed. Neji lead the way to Hiashi's office, where he left them to return to his own room. Hinata knocked on the shoji screen door frame and pushed open the door when her father's voice said, "Enter." Hanabi entered first, followed by Hinata and Naruto. Hiashi looked up and stared at the fox ears and tails that had suddenly appeared on both of the teens.

"It seems you have some explaining to do," said Hiashi as he raised one eyebrow. Naruto quickly told the major points of their last mission and stressed that Hinata had saved his life. Hanabi had nodded off during the story since she had already heard it and was sitting in Hinata's lap fast asleep with her older sister's tails as a blanket. Hiashi had been quiet through the whole story and hadn't looked either teen in the eye once Naruto started speaking. Hiashi finally leveled a glare at Naruto and started to speak, only to hear a low growl coming from Hinata. As Hiashi stared at his eldest daughter in surprise, Hinata raised one hand and a ball of fox fire appeared hovering above her palm. Hiashi's eyes widened as his Byakugan revealed just how much chakra was contained in the small flame ball.

"If you dare say another word against Naruto-kun I will quite cheerfully toss this onto your desk _father_! We love eachother and there is nothing you can do to break us apart. By Kitsune law, we are already mates, which would translate to being married. While we have yet to consummate the mating, you can expect grandchildren soon. However, if you keep up with your irrational hatred for Naruto-kun and Kyuubi-san you will never get to see them. I will also quite cheerfully take Hanabi away from here to prevent your bigotry from corrupting her. For to long has your generation's unjust hatred for Kyuubi been placed on Naruto, who was to have been the village's hero. Think on my words, because this is your last warning!" said Hinata before a burst of blue flames surrounded Naruto, Hanabi, and her. The flames were so bright Hiashi had to deactivate his Byakugan and look away. When the light had died down, he turned to look at where they had been, only to find the space where Naruto and Hinata had sat was now occupied by a large burn in the shape of a hand flipping him off as he sat at his desk and there was no trace of any of the other previous occupants of the room.

Outside his uncle's office, neji smirked and walked away. The foxfire had been directed at Hiashi only, so he had seen Naruto and Hinata use the same jutsu many of the Jounin used to poof around and take Hanabi with them. Neji knew that Hanabi had been under a lot of pressure to become a replacement heir for the Main House and some time away from her father would help her to enjoy her life and relax a little.

(-)

Back at the Uzumaki house, Naruko and Hinata quietly tucked Hanabi into Hinata's bed before preparing themselves for bead also. Both donned extra large tee-shirts and some of Naruto's boxers before settling themselves on either side of Hanabi. The two kitsune girls kissed each other good night and fell asleep with their tails wrapped around Hanabi as an extra set of blankets. "I'm glad you thought of this dare Hinata-chan, now I get to sleep with you and don't have to worry about doing something I'll regret in my sleep," whispered Naruko. Hinata simply smiled and wrapped an arm around Hanabi, who continued to sleep peacefully.

(-)

Kyuubi stuck her head into Hinata's room and smiled at the Kawaii scene she found there. The three girls looked almost like sisters from the way they were cuddled together. The kitsune woman was glad Hanabi hadn't been scared of her and still accepted Hinata. Maybe there was hope for the future of the Hyuga clan. Kyuubi quietly closed the door and went down to the library to find a good book for her evening reading.

(-)

"Didn't my kit's ancestors have any books on kitsune?" muttered Kyuubi as she scanned the titles of the books lining the shelves. The library was fairly large and each shelf had a label showing the type of books found there. Kyuubi was currently browsing the mythology section and had found several books of mythical creatures, but none on kitsune. "Maybe I should write a book on our species, it might help people understand why I attacked Konoha," said Kyuubi. Just then, a orange book caught her eye and Kyuubi pulled it off the shelf. Upon seeing the title, she barely contained her urge to jump for joy. The book was entitled, Kitsune: The Master Tricksters. Kyuubi sat down in an armchair that turned out to be really soft and deep, her knees were above her lap after she finished sinking into the cushion. Kyuubi eagerly opened the book and started reading. Apparently, the author had collected several well known stories that featured kitsune in prominent parts. They had also managed to track down a kitsune and convinced the fox to play tricks on them to be recorded for future generations to enjoy. Kyuubi was soon softly laughing as the tricks became more and more elaborate and usually ended up with the author being the butt of jokes that Naruto wouldn't have even dared attempt.

"Enjoying the book?" asked an amused voice behind Kyuubi. The kitsune woman smiled and replied, "Yes I a…" before her face paled and she leapt up out of the chair and spun around. Kyuubi found herself facing the transparent image of Toshiro Hayashi.

Now put yourself in Kyuubi's place. You suddenly find yourself facing the ghost of the guy who sealed you inside his only son fifth teen years ago and he snuck up on you. Kyuubi did the only logical thing she could do. She screamed bloody murder. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa GASP aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" echoed through the house. Akemi was down stairs in a flash, foxfire blazing in both hands as she prepared to attack whoever had hurt her mother. Naruko, Hinata, and Hanabi had all woken up with a start. After changing back to his normal form on instinct, Naruto grabbed Zabuza's sword and ran downstairs. Hinata followed after pulling the blanket over Hanabi and giving her a kunai. "If someone comes for you, jump out the window and run home! Don't look back!" said Hinata before grabbing some kunai and running downstairs after her soon to be mate. What the three teens found was Kyuubi lying on the floor of the library with swirly eyes and the ghost of Naruto's father frantically using a suiton jutsu to put out the fires caused by Akemi's foxfire that passed right through him and set the curtains on fire. Kimiko, Hiryuu, Akira, Miyuki, Ryeka, Shippo, and Rin all burst into the room just as the flames were extinquished with weapons drawn.

With the fire extinguished, Toshiro turned to survey the ten teens and started rubbing the back of his head much like Naruto often did. "Umm, hi?" he said with a sheepish smile as he raised one hand like Kakashi often did when he greeted his team. Naruto blinked for a full minute before grabbing Hinata's kunai and jabbing it into his arm.

"Ouch, well this isn't a dream," he muttered as he pulled the kunai out. "How the hell are you here dad?" asked Naruto as he laid his sword against the wall and placed Kyuubi on a nearby couch with Akemi's help.

Toshiro rubbed his head again and said, "Well, I'm not completely sure, I was playing poker with Shodaime, Nidaime, and Sarutobi one minute and the next I'm here. The death god couldn't stomach all four of us after Sarutobi sealed the other two and Orochimaru's arms and spat us out. We've been hanging in the spirit world and watching you guys on our big screen TV. I have to say I'm impressed by how much you progressed in these past three years Naruto." Naruto blushed slightly and kicked the floor while Hinata beamed at him. She had just returned from getting Hanabi, who stared at Toshiro with fascination. Toshiro suddenly snapped his fingers. "Wait, didn't Kakashi bring that kunai I gave him when he visited today? I put a little bit of my soul in each of those to make the calling jutsu work over really long distances and that combined with the presence of the Toad summoning contract might have been enough to summon me!" said the former Hokage. Kyuubi had revived just prior to this statement and breathed a sigh of relief that she wasn't about to be sealed again. Toshiro turned to the kitsune and bowed to her. "Gomen nasai Kyuubi-san, if I had arrived sooner we could have forced Orochimaru to release Akemi and prevented you from being sealed. I also apologize for startling you tonight, I didn't realize you weren't aware of my presence."

Kyuubi waved a hand idly as she said, "Shimpai Shite Mo (Don't worry), I'm fine."

Naruto suddenly started hopping up and down like a little kid and said, "Otou-San, Otou-San, can you teach me Shunshin No Jutsu?"

**And that's where I'm stopping this chapter. It is two thirty Sunday morning and I'm going to post this right now. I'm also working on a pure Naruto story that might interest some of you. Basically, Kyuubi never attacked Konoha and is married to the Fourth Hokage and has their hanyou son Naruto. The story is basically an AU of the original Naruto story with a few twists explained in the prologue. If I get two reviews saying to post it I'll post the prologue and possibly the first chapter next Saturday.**


	7. Discussions and flashbacks

**Roar of the Dragon: We're going to have some flashbacks from Kimiko's previous year in school that explain how she met Ryeka, Akira, and Miyuki. Side note: If Naruto is aired on Tsunami, it will be aimed at little kids. This means all the good stuff that we love like the blood and possibly Sexy no Jutsu will be removed. To prevent this go to http : www (dot) thepetitionsite (dot) com / takeaction / 105379428 and sign the petition to get it put on Adult swim.**

_Review Responses:Okay, is screwing up the chapters and I'm not completely sure who reviewed for the last chapter and I just didn't get. There for I'm not responding to any reviews this chapter, check the reviews here on the site and see if yours shows up for chapter 6. If not, send me an e-mail, my address is in my profile, with your review._

_Important note: I am temporarily putting this fic on hold to work on my new story, Naruto the Kitsune Hanyou, the link to which can be found in my profile. I need a massive anime viewing spree to boost my creativity for TOK, so please bear with me while I restore my creative batteries._

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Inuyasha, Ranma 1/2, Oh my Goddess, or Tenchi Muyo. If I did I would have a PS2, a Game cube, and an X-box and never have to worry about putting in this disclaimer.**

Toshiro stared at Naruto for a moment then shrugged. "Eh, why not? The training will be difficult and requires very good chakra control, so you might want to change to the form in which you have the best control of your chakra." Naruto nodded and turned into Naruko. Toshiro smiled and said, "This training will be very hard, perhaps even harder than learning the Rasengan. I still find it hard to believe that you learned the jutsu that took me three years to complete in a single week." Naruko grinned her infamous grin and was about to reply but was interrupted by a massive yawn. Seeing that Hanabi was starting to nod off, Hinata stepped forward.

"I think it would be best if we continued this conversation in the morning, Toshiro-san. We'll see you then," said Hinata as she guided her sister towards the stairs up to the bedrooms. The others started to follow them, saying "good night" to Kyuubi and Toshiro. Finally, the two were the only ones left in the library.

"Hokage-sama, I need to ask if your wife and you are happy with me calling Naruto my kit. I know you two missed the chance to really show him your love and I hope you won't be offended by my trying to raise him in your stead," said Kyuubi. Toshiro shook his head and smiled gently.

"Hikari was extremely happy to see you adopt Naruto as your own kit when he found out about you. While we both wish we could have been there for him we are glad your rage over Akemi left you after I sealed you and you were able to watch over Naruto. I know how many times you tweaked his senses without him knowing so he could sense when someone was stalking him in order to save his life. For that you have my gratitude and Hikari's thanks. Without you, Naruto would have been killed many times over. We're proud to have one of the strongest kitsune to ever exist raise our son…or daughter given the current situation and bet with Hinata. Speaking of the bet, has Naruko ever had a period before?"

Kyuubi grinned, and this grin was not her normal foxy grin or a happy grin. This was the grin that she wore when she had watched someone get their just desserts for an evil act against Naruto in the form of a prank that had the neighborhood talking about it for a week. Toshiro was glad he was already dead or that grin would have had his heart pounding so loud that a normal human would have heard it. "Nope, I fully expect her to wake up screaming that she is bleeding to death in the next two weeks. I happen to know that my cycle matches with hers, with maybe a day's difference in between them," said Kyuubi. Toshiro sweat dropped, knowing that his son who was currently his daughter would panic and likely wake up the whole house with her screams.

* * *

Naruko smiled as she looked at Hanabi snuggling up to Hinata. The blond kitsune girl had decided to watch the night sky for a short time before going back to bed and left the two sisters in the bed alone. Hanabi had murmured, "Naruko-nee-chan," and tried to snuggle up to Naruko. Naruko had whispered that she was going to the bathroom and kissed Hanabi and Hinata good night before quietly slipping out the door. Naruko walked to a large room on the top floor that had a giant window for the walls and ceiling. Plants lined the room to take advantage of the almost constant sunlight and several comfy chairs and couches made it a great place to watch the sunrise and sunset. Naruko chose a chair and sat down, arranging her robe to make sure she wouldn't offend anyone if she fell asleep and spent the night on the chair.

"Couldn't sleep either?" asked a voice behind Naruko. She turned to see Kimiko dressed in a sleeping robe and holding a glass of water. Naruko nodded, gesturing for the hanyou girl to join her. Kimiko sat down on a second arm chair and placed her glass on a small table beside the chair. "Ramen noodle for your thoughts?" asked Kimiko. Naruko grinned at the idea, since Sasuke always called her Dobe and implied she didn't think. Naruko's face then settled into a light frown.

"It's just… my life has changed so much in these past few weeks," said Naruko. "Meeting you and your friends, freeing Oka-san from inside me, getting to know Akemi, finding out I was betrothed to Hinata and realizing that I love her, bringing back Sasuke, Hinata becoming a kitsune hybrid like me, and now my dad coming back as a ghost. I just have a head ache from trying to digest it all."

Kimiko grinned and said, "Listen, go get back in bed and tomorrow we can go and eat enough ramen to keep Ichiraku in business for the next two years. Just think of ramen and your headache will go away." Naruko grinned and stood up to leave with Kimiko following. The two girls walked down stairs to the bedrooms and separated when they reached Naruko's room. Downstairs, Kyuubi had fallen asleep on the couch with her face buried in her book while Toshiro was floating in mid-air fast asleep and snoring gently.

* * *

The next day started out with a surprise for Naruko, Hinata, and Hanabi. The whole house was awakened by the shrieks of 'Pervert' from all three girls and the sounds of projectiles of various sizes hitting the wall and flesh. It appeared Jiraiya had decided to see how his students reacted to being woken up by an enemy. Unfortuneatly, he had missed the fact that Naruto was currently Naruko since he had been out cold for most of the afternoon the previous day and left without seeing Naruko or knowing that Hanabi and Naruko had bunked in Hinata's room. So when he found Naruko and Hinata curled around Hanabi, he started drooling as blood trickled out of his nose. A drop of his drool hit Hinata's tail and caused her to wake up. Immediately assaulted by the scent of Jiraiya's cologne, she knew what was happening due to the high arousal she smelled. Jiraiya's face met Hinata's fist and the crack of his nose woke Naruko and Hanabi. The younger girl screamed and somehow managed to crawl behind Hinata in less than a second. Naruko on the other hand gathered fox fire around her fists and delivered a Tsunade strength blow to Jiraiya's gut. That's when the barrage of weapons, ranging from kunai and shuriken to hair brushes and scrolls, started raining down on the perverted senin. Jiraiya managed to escape the room, only to crash face first into what felt like two pillows since he had his eyes closed to avoid being blinded by a fist of foxfire. Jiraiya automatically grabbed at the 'pillows' and found that they were two globes.

'Oh crap!' was Jiraiya's last thought before a frying pan, a mallet, a bow, a fist, a dog tail, and a bunch of fox tails started beating him to death. By the time Kyuubi, Miyuki, Kimiko, Ryeka, Rin, and Akemi were done, Jiraiya was a moaning pile of bruises and bumps that could barely be called alive. Then Shippo, Hiryuu, and Akira had the honor of tying him up and dragging him to Tsunade's office. The Hokage was not in yet, so they stuffed Jiraiya's mouth and left him hanging from the ceiling of her office.

* * *

Breakfast was a little tense, since Naruko was still upset about her sensei drooling over her. Finally, the blond kitsune girl broke the awkward silence. "Otou-san, old man Sarutobi trained Ero-senin, Ero-senin trained you, and you trained Kakashi-sensei. Since it seems that a perverted teacher equals perverted student, are you a pervert?" It was a good thing for Toshiro that he couldn't eat or drink anything, since the contents of his mouth would have ended up all over the table.

"No Naruko, I'm not a pervert, unless liking to look at my wife and snuggle with her makes me a pervert. Jiraiya-sensei tried to get me to help with his research, but I always screamed bloody murder and scared all the girls away to annoy him. His wedding present was a collection of his entire book series so far, each volume autographed. I promptly threw all the books in the trash that evening and saw Kakashi steal them and run off giggling," said Toshiro with a faint blush. Naruko gave a sigh of relief and continued eating her breakfast happily.

* * *

The next two weeks passed quickly. Naruko trained with her father to learn the Shunshin no Jutsu, while Hinata and Akemi perfected their teamwork by engaging in sparing matches against Kimiko, Hiryuu, Miyuki, Akira, Ryeka, Rin, and Shippo as a group. This was the first time the two kunoichi had fought a non-shinobi trained person who could hold their own against them. Kakashi was seen around the Uzumaki house talking with Kyuubi several times each day when he wasn't on missions.

* * *

"Hey Kimiko, how did you all become friends?" asked Hinata. It was a week after Toshiro's return as a ghost and it was to hot to train. Everyone was relaxing in the pool and Hinata had been struck by the diversity of their friends from another world.

Kimiko glanced up from her manga and smiled slightly. "Well, I've know Hiryuu since we were little kids, Shippo and Rin were there before I was born, but I didn't know the others until I started high school in our world. I still remember it like it was yesterday..."

(AN: This was the original first chapter of this story, but I didn't really want to write about school a lot and decided to do this crossover just imagine that Kimiko is telling the story, even though it doesn't look that way, I'm to lazy to rewrite the whole thing.)

Kimiko was woken up by the annoying buzz of her alarm clock. Groaning, the fourteen year old hanyou girl reached over and pushed the off button for the clock. Sitting up and stretching, Kimiko yawned and stumbled into the bathroom to brush her teeth and hair. After finishing her grooming, Kimiko changed into her underwear and school uniform. 'I still don't see why I have to attend school since my family is living in Oka-san's time now. Just because Jii-chan had to move to that retirement home and Oka-san decided to take his place as caretaker of the shrine. I miss our home in Outo-san's time. At least I get to see Grandma every day now and I can visit my other friends through the well after I get home from school or on the weekends' As Kimiko finished getting dressed, Kagome knocked on and opened the door to her daughter's room. Kimiko had grown a lot over the past thirteen years and was as tall as her mother.

"Good, you're up. I don't want you being late for your first day at school," said Kagome as Kimiko slipped her concealing spell necklace on.

"I still don't see why I have to go to school Oka-san," said Kimiko.

"It's because you're not old enough to legally not go to school in this time. I've home schooled you to your current level, so you shouldn't have any trouble. At least you're starting on the first day of school and not the middle of the year," said Kagome as the two walked down stairs to find Souta eating a bowl of cornflakes while Inuyasha munched on a piece of toast and Shippo was drinking a big glass of orange juice as he got ready to head back through the well to help Sango, Mirouku, Hiyruu, and Kagome's two student mikos, Botan and Momiji, in defending the village. Inuyasha was dressed in a set of sweatpants and a sweatshirt for his job as a Karate instructor. Inuyasha had decided he would need a way to keep his fighting skills in shape in Kagome's time and since he had learned self defense so well over the years, he had gotten a job teaching young children how to defend themselves at a dojo. The school of Anything-Goes Martial Arts was the perfect style for Inuyasha and he got along well with the head instructor Ranma Satome and his wife Akane.

Shippo was dressed in the typical blue version of Inuyasha's outfit with a hole for his nine tails. At age fifth teen in youkai years, Shippo came up to Inuyasha's shoulder and had discarded his old bow for a simple hair tie that kept his hair in a Kenshin look. Souta was dressed in a pair of pants that could be converted to shorts in hot weather and a tee shirt that said 'I'm not a slacker I'm just conserving energy' on the front. Kagome served up some eggs and bacon she had cooking for everyone and Kimiko eagerly gobbled down her food. Shippo ate at a less rapid pace, since he just needed to walk to and jump through the well to get to the warring states era. Souta was eating a bit faster than Shippo since he had to drive himself to the college campus. Mrs. Higurashi came down dressed in her robe and sat down for her morning cup of coffee that Kagome handed her. Kimiko finished her breakfast and put her dishes in the sink before kissing her parents and grandmother good bye.

"See you after School gets out!" yelled Kimiko as she pulled on her trusty rollerblades, slipped on her backpack, and zipped out of the house, across the yard of the shrine, and grinded down the handrail that had been put in on the shrine steps when her great grandpa had developed a bad knee and needed some help up the stairs to make sure he didn't fall. Leaping off the hand rail, Kimiko zipped down the street, heading out for her first day of high school.

* * *

Kimiko was attending Furinkan High, mainly because people were used to strange things happening around the school. Kimiko entered the front door of the school, relieved she had twenty minutes to find the office and get her schedule. "At least I won't be late," she sighed as she walked through the doors and followed a series of signs to the office. "Excuse me Mamm, I'm Kimiko Taishio and this is my first day here," said Kimiko politely to the secretary.

The young woman looked up and smiled at Kimiko, then her eyes widened. "I didn't know we would be getting such a cute hanyou this year," she said with a smile.

Kimiko blinked and sniffed the air, then grinned. "For a rabbit youkai, you have a good nose Mamm," she said as she wiggled her ears.

The secretary smiled and said, "Thank you dear. My name is Ms. Tibbar, if you have any troubles with some of the youkai students here, please speak to me. Now lets see, Taishio... Taishio, ah ha! Here you are. You're in room A-5, just turn right outside the door and you'll find your class a few doors down. Your locker is on your way, so put your skates there."

"Arigato Ms. Tibbar, I hope you have a pleasant day!" said Kimiko as she bowed and exited the room. The rabbit youkai waved good bye and returned to her work.

"Lets see, A-1 and I'm looking for A-5," muttered Kimiko as she followed Ms. Tibbar's directions. "Aha, found it," she said. Kimiko quietly opened the door to find a few students already in the room chatting and the teacher sitting at the desk. Kimiko walked up to the teacher and handed her paperwork over.

"Everything seems in order Ms. Taishio, just stay up here and I'll introduce you to the rest of the class. My name is Miss Miyuu," said the brown haired woman. Kimiko smiled and sat down in the chair the teacher pointed to beside the desk and waited for ten minutes as the class slowly filled up with boys and girls of her age. Finally the bell rang and Ms. Miyyuu stood up as the class quieted down. "Class, we have a new student this year, Kimiko Taishio. Kimiko, please tell us a little about yourself."

Kimiko stood up and bowed to the class before speaking. "My mother is the miko in charge of the Sunset Shrine where my family lives. I have one adopted older brother in college and my father is an instructor at the Anything-goes Martial Arts school. I like archery, camping, and playing video games with my brother," said Kimiko.

"Very nice. Hmm, Kimiko, why don't you sit next to Ryeka. Ms. Masaki, please raise your hand." said Ms. Miyuu. A tall girl with long spiky cyan hair sitting at the back of the room raised her hand and Kimiko moved to take the empty seat next to her. Turning to look at her neighbor, Kimiko was surprised to see yellow eyes almost like a cat's regarding her curiosly. Kimiko couldn't smell any trace of cat youkai, but she could sense immense power in this young girl.

"My name is Ryeka Misaki, it's nice to meet you," said the black haired girl pleasantly as she held out her hand.

"Kimiko Taishio, thank you," said Kimiko as she shook Ryeka's hand.

Ryeka's eyes widened slightly and after quickly making sure Ms. Miyuu wasn't looking at them she said, "Can we talk during lunch by the big tree outside?" Kimiko nodded and turned her attention to Ms. Miyuu introducing the class to their first topic in class, English.

* * *

At lunch, Kimiko ignored all the picnic tables and benches and walked to the biggest tree she could find on the playground. Making sure no one was looking in her direction; Kimiko jumped up to the first branch of the tree and sat down in the shade provided by the leafy bows. A second later, Ryeka popped out of thin air onto the branch across from Kimiko. Kimiko let out a small yelp and instinctively bared her teeth. Ryeka sweat dropped and sighed. "Sorry," she said, "I didn't realize you would be up here. I will not ask how you got up here, but you're not exactly human are you?"

Kimiko nodded and said, "And after seeing you teleport up here, you're not a normal human either." Ryeka grinned and Kimiko saw a small fang in her mouth as a shimmer seemed to pass over Ryeka and left her with yellow cat eyes and funny shaped ears. Kimiko blinked for a second then deactivated the necklace's spell, revealing her ears and untucked her tail from under her skirt. Ryeka's eyes widened then both girls started laughing before resuming their human appearances.

"Me first," said Ryeka. After Kimiko nodded, she continued saying, "My dad Tenchi is half human and half Jurarian, a powerful race from a distant planet. My mother Ryoko is another alien and is extremely powerful also. I can fly, teleport, shoot energy blasts, form an energy sword, and phase through things."

Kimiko nodded and said, "My mother Kagome is a miko and was once a normal girl. Then she fell through the well on the shrine grounds where we live and met my dad, an Inu hanyou named Inuyasha in the Warring States Era. She fell in love and accidentally became a hanyou like him after some of his blood got mixed with her own. I'm thus an Inu hanyou like both of them. My brother Shippo is a Kitsune, and I have a pet dragon named Flamie. I have a dog's heightened sense of smell and hearing, can run really fast, and I'm pretty strong."

"Cool, I have a neat pet to, she is a half rabbit half cat creature called a cabbit named Ren-oh-ki. My Aunt Ayeka is the queen of Jurai and my Aunt Sasami is also known as the goddess of Jurai, Tsunami," said Ryeka. Both girls grinned and it was from that moment that they were best friends for life.

Ryeka and Kimiko both pulled out their lunches and started eating after jumping down to sit on the ground under the tree. Ryeka had a bento box while Kimiko had several cups of instant ramen, an apple, carrots, and a pack of Pocky sticks for lunch. Both girls were eating and chatting happily when a shadow fell over them. Kimiko looked up to find several older boys and girls standing around them. "Can we help you with something?" asked Kimiko as her nose told her these kids were youkai in human for with their ears and eyes hidden by magic.

"Yeah, you can get your filthy half-breed self out of here!" snarled one of the bigger boys who had a broken nose and numerous scars on his face and hands. Kimiko's eyes narrowed and a low growl rumbled in her throat. Now that Ryeka knew about her hanyou features, the other girl could see Kimiko's tail thrashing with anger and her ears laid back.

"And just why should she do that? This is a public school, not your private little world," said Ryeka with what her mother jokingly called her 'Aunt Aeyka' voice.

The youkai kid's eyes flicked to her and he snorted again before replying. "This doesn't concern you freak. I don't know what kind of youkai you are, but unless you want to go home crying to mommy I suggest you stay out of this!" Ryeka schooled her face into a bored expression and used one hand to place a piece of sushi in her mouth with her chopsticks while the other grabbed the boy and easily lifted him over her head.

"I suggest you apologize for that remark before I have to hurt you," said Ryeka as she continued eating her lunch before tossing the youkai boy off to the side. One of the other boys charged Ryeka, only to find himself kicked in the face by Kimiko as she leapt into the air and spun around in a whirlwind kick.

"Sheesh, you guys are bad, my nigen(human) friend could give me a harder fight and he's smaller than me," said Kimiko as she landed in a combat stance. One of the few girls in the group aimed her hand at Kimiko and an energy blast started forming in her palm.

"I doubt you can block thisssss tramp!" she hissed, her forked tongue revealing that she was a snake youkai. A sudden streak of red flew over Kimiko's shoulder and blasted the gathering energy ball.

"She may not be able to, but I can!" said Ryeka with a smirk as she held up a hand with a second energy blast ready. One of the other boys swung a fist at Ryeka from behind and watched dumb founded as his fist passed right through her. "Isn't being able to phase neat?" asked Ryeka with a twinkle in her eye before Kimiko punched the guy in the stomach and he bent over winded. After that, the fight quickly went out of the remaining youkai kids and they grabbed their fallen comrades and fled.

Kimiko grinned at Ryeka and resumed eating her ramen. "So how come no one is acting like we just pulled some amazing moves or were firing energy blasts over here?" she asked.

"I don't know, but my mom tried to kill my dad at his high school when they first met and people thought all the damage was from a gas pipe exploding," said Ryeka.

"You're going to have to explain that to me in more detail," said Kimiko before offering some Pocky to the other girl. Ryeka accepted the snack and the two happily munched away on Pocky sticks as Ryeka told Kimiko the events of how her father released her mother from the cave she was sealed in and about how all these other alien girls showed up at her father's house after that and how the villain Kagato came and was defeated and her grandmother was rescued in the process. "So your grandma is some kind of inventor?" asked Kimiko after throwing away the trash from their lunches and laying down in the sun under the tree.

Ryeka nodded and grinned saying, "Grandma Washu is the 'Greatest Scientific Genius in the Universe!' In fact, she created my mom Ryoko using one of her ova and a creature called a Mass that used the ova and Grandma's phycic imprint to make my mom. Grandma Washu also made Ryo-oh-ki and Ken-oh-ki, the parents of my cabbit Ren-oh-ki."

"She sounds really neat, I'd like to meet her some day as well as your family," said Kimiko.

"You can meet my mom today after school, she's picking me up in the car to do some shopping this afternoon," said Ryeka.

* * *

After school got out, Kimiko and Ryeka walked out to the front of the school. Kimiko noticed some kids who were youkai judging by their scents giving them nasty glares and was glad she had reported the lunch incident to Mrs. Just then, a car horn beeped as a woman called, "Ryeka, time to go!"

Ryeka ran up to a minivan and hugged the spiky cyan haired woman who got out of the car to catch her in a hug. "Mom, I want to introduce you to my new friend Kimiko," said Ryeka.

Kimiko stepped foreword and bowed to the woman. "It is a pleasure to meet you Ms. Masaki, Ryeka has told me a lot about you," she said as she deactivated her amulet temporarily then turned it back on.

Ryoko Masaki's eyes widened and then she grinned before saying, "I see some youkai survived from the past. Oh yes, I doubt Ryeka told you, but I'm over seven hundred years old. I know all about youkai and hanyou. It was a pleasure meeting you, I'm sure Ryeka can come over some time or you can visit our house over the weekend." said Ryoko as Ryeka climbed into the car.

"See you tomorrow Kimiko!" said Ryeka.

"Right, see you in class!" replied Kimiko as Ryoko drove off.

* * *

That evening, Kimiko eagerly told her parents all about Ryeka and how they had dealt with the bullies. Inuyasha glanced up when Kimiko mentioned which class she was in. "A-5? Ranma's son and daughter are in that class, they had a doctor's appointment today and weren't able to attend school. They'll be showing up tomorrow. Their names are Akira and Miyuki Satome. Akira has black hair that he wears in a short pony tail and he's just over your height. Miyuki is a little shorter since she skipped a grade a few years ago and is a year younger than her brother. I'm sure you'll get along well with them. They're transferring to your school after an incident at their old one," he said.

"What kind of incident?" asked Kimiko. "Ranma said something about Miyuki being bullied and Akira beating the crud out of the kids who picked on her," said Inuyasha. "Also, their family knows about me being a hanyou, something about they can sense my chi and tell I'm not human, so don't worry if they ask about your youkai features," he continued. Kimiko nodded and spent the rest of dinner wondering about what Akira and Miyuki would be like. After dinner, she did the small bit of homework she had that was mainly filling in medical forms with her parents before going to bed.

* * *

Kimiko smiled as she felt Flamie curl up on top of her in his small form, the events of the day going through her head. 'I made a new friend, she helped me fight off some bullies, and found out some more kids whose parents are friends of dad's will be in my class tomorrow. I think I'm going to like living in this era and going to school' she said to herself before snuggling into her covers and slowly drifting off to sleep and dreaming of ramen noodles.

"… and that is how I met Ryeka. She was my first friend in modern Japan and we've been friends ever since," said Kimiko.

Ryeka grinned as she remembered the fight with the bullies and said, "The youkai at the school don't know what to make of me, I'm like nothing they're ever encountered before."

Naruko sighed, she wished she had had a friend in school. Even though she now had friends and family, back then she hadn't had anyone. "Your world sounds so much more simple than ours. I bet I would have fit in well there," she said.

Kimiko shook her head and said, "No, there are no shinobi in our world. In this world I can reveal my ears and tail and say they're part of a bloodline, but in my world I have to be in the past or at home to do that. The grass may seem greener on the other side of the fence, but it is just your imagination. You were meant to be born in this world, not ours. You just have to make the best of life that you can." Naruko nodded, not knowing that the next morning would be the start of a week of torture for her.

**And with that, I'll leave you. Please take the time to read Naruto the Kitsune Hanyou and review it. I'll update this story after a while, don't worry. I don't plan to leave this half finished. Expect updates to resume after about a month.**


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